Book 2: Heroes and Monsters
by I'm No Hero
Summary: Hey, guys. I'm back! I hope you guys are enjoying this Book so far. Well, after a very long break (my apologies for that, I've been very busy), I've finally gotten back to writing this Book. Have fun and enjoy! :D
1. Episode 1: Six Months Later

**Book 2:** **Heroes and Monsters**

It has been six months since Avatar Korra, excuse me, former Avatar Korra returned and since the restoration of the Air Nation. With the Air Nomads back and the world at peace, everything's been going wonderful. Though Korra is still struggling with trying to help people and protecting them while not being the Avatar anymore. And the memories of her past actions during her service to the dark spirit, Mala Ta'ak, also still haunt her. But this time she has her friends, both old and new, to help her. This story starts in the Southern Air Temple, now again populated with airbenders, where Taka and Masaru are still getting used to life on the mountains. "Why is it always so cold here?" Masaru said as a few kids air scooter past them. "Well, it is the mountains," Taka replied pointing out the obvious, "and we are pretty high up." "Well, isn't that just dandy." Though it was a beautiful sight. The air temples have always been magnificent along with their beautiful scenery. The small mountains around the temple only add to the beauty, what with their growing green grass and rugged formations. Master Tenzin was busy practicing and training with the other airbenders. He was feeling very happy. His and his father's people are finally back after all these years.

"Have you seen Korra?" Taka asked his friend. "Uhhmmm…I think she's inside. She looked like she wanted to be alone," he replied. A little confused, he left to go find her. She was inside one of the rooms, sitting alone in the dark, wanting to be away from it all for a while. She should be happy, everything was finally getting better again, but she still can't help but think about it… Those memories. A few of the rooms were built into the mountains, following its natural shape. The one she was in had already been made into a simple bedroom—she was sitting on the bed, wrapping her arms around her legs. "Sweetie?" he said entering, "are you okay?" A small window sits right beside the entrance. She wiped away what little tears she had before turning around to face him. She wasn't really crying, a few tears just came out as she was contemplating. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied with a smile, "everything's great." She then greeted him with a hug followed by a kiss. She wanted to leave and see the world again… Or just to go out, whichever one. "Let's go out," she said. "Now?" "Yeah, I wanna…take a walk," she explained, lowering her head. "Okay," he nodded. They went back out to be greeted by the sun still shining quite bright above them—though it looked like it was about to go down.

"Well, at least it's still light out," he said. "Alright, let's go," she ran past him, enthusiastic. "Okay, what's going on now?" his friend asked. "We're going out, let's go." Korra already ran off to borrow one of the sky bisons so they can take off, excited. Though she was feeling bad inside, she tried to distract herself with this. She encountered Tenzin on the way and he asks her what the rush is all about. "Can't talk. Need sky bison," she spoke quickly, not giving much detail. He stood there, perplexed. "Hey, Tenzin," Taka and Masaru came. "Hey, guys. Do you have any idea what's going on with Korra?" "Oh, we're just gonna borrow one of the sky bisons and head out," Taka answered, "she wants to go somewhere, so naturally we have to go with her." The airbender smiled, "I see. Sounds like fun. You guys sure deserve it after what you did here." "Oh, we didn't do anything," he scratched his head, trying to be modest. "Nonsense!" he put his hand on Taka's shoulder, "you brought back my people, Taka. That is the greatest gift anyone could've given me. You guys can borrow any of the bison at any time. Have fun." He then walked away.

"It WAS pretty cool what you did," Masaru added. "It almost killed me, man! I don't think I should do that again. I don't even think I CAN do that again." "But you haven't granted me one," his friend joked. "Are you serious?" "Nah, man. Just kidding around." It was then that Korra showed up riding a flying bison. "Guys! I found us one!" It seemed majestic as it flew down—its white fur ruffled by the wind. It let out a soft groan, "Mwaahh." She set him down and hopped off. "Guys, this is… I don't even know his name, haha," she said turning to pet him, "Lefty, I think. Is that right, boy? Oh, you're so cute." He cuddled her in return and she hugged him too. It was a heart-warming sight for the two friends, especially knowing what she had been through. She climbed back up and told them to hop on and off they went.

The Air Nomads bid them farewell as they left. "Bye"—"Thank you"—"See you"—were some of the words spoken. And off they went on an adventure. Well, it was much of an adventure as their previous ones. It was nice feeling the wind on their hairs again, on their faces. The sights below were a treat too. As majestic as the mountains are, seeing the land and grasslands below, the villages and small towns—they were also quite a view to behold. And just soaring through the sky itself, as I've said before: feeling the wind on their faces. "Where are we going again?" Taka asked her. "You'll see. Somewhere I really wanna go to," she explained, being cryptic.

She headed back to the Southern Water Tribe: the only place where she felt safe right now—she could've headed somewhere else, but she didn't want to, or rather didn't need the attention at the time. Although the rest of the world might've forgotten—or just didn't care—the people at her tribe remembered. They supported her as much as they could or at least tried. When she announced to the world that the Avatar no longer exists, she faced some criticism and hate from the people. Which is a little strange since they've seemed to have moved on from the Avatar and felt like they didn't need her anymore. Funny how they now criticize her for giving them what they want—it seems they still haven't gotten used to the idea of a world without a protector. Anyway, her friends, of course, defended her as much as they could, but only succeeded in condemning themselves with her. But it was understandable—what could they have told them? They couldn't have told 'em the truth, definitely not that. No, I think that would've probably condemned them to an even worse fate.

Her people at the Southern Water Tribe were the only ones who accepted her and welcomed her back. They even made a statue of her in honor of that sacrifice. But anyway, back to the present… She was heading back home—after helping to restore an entire nation it felt nice to just go home. Taka was also excited. He was finally going to see her hometown, where she grew up. As they flew further South, the air started to get colder and the sky a little darker. Not dark in a sense that it's dark and evil, mind you—it was just cloudy at the time with snowfall. It was just white as far as the eye could see and below them on the ocean were small snow white patches of land like an island and broken pieces of ice—like smaller islands, most likely broken off from one of the bigger ones—floating on the blue water. Taka and Masaru marveled at the sight. They've never seen so much snow—their town never gets snowfall except for the mountains. A few polar beardogs can be seen and lots of otter penguins too. It was amazing…and cold. They were shaking and shivering, _I should've worn thicker clothing_ , they both thought. "Hahaha," she laughed at them shivering, "I'm home." She stood up for a moment and yelled out, "I'm home!"

At long last, their destination was just straight ahead. Taka and Masaru could see Korra's statue below them, sitting in the middle of the ocean. "Looking good, sweetie," he told her. "Shut up. I don't really like that statue. Doesn't really look anything like me," she replied. "What are you talking about? It looks exactly like you," Masaru looked over to see. "It kinda makes me look big," she said quietly. "Sorry, what?" The wind rushing and blowing around them already made it hard for them to hear each other and she was speaking quietly. "Nothing! We're almost there! Let's go!" With that, they flew fast and straight to the heart of Harbor City, the capital of the Southern Water Tribe.

Unlike how it would've been had they gone somewhere else, they were welcomed with happy greetings and smiles and the people waved at them as they flew by—"Hey, Korra!", "Korra's back!", "Welcome back, guys!". It was just as beautiful as she remembered it. Not really though…it was actually better. "Wow," Taka spoke, "everything's soo…white. And amazing." Indeed the Water Tribe architectures are something of a wonder—or maybe fantasy. Nearly the entire city is built on ice and snow, the buildings, the houses, they even have a small river flowing throughout the city, flowing and turning and ebbing. "So… This is where you grew up, huh?" Masaru wondered. "Yep. This is home. This was everything I knew before…before all this Avatar stuff started happening." She had a happy tear remembering all the good times she had growing up here. But it turned into real tears for a moment when she mentioned it… Taka grabs her shoulder and moves closer to comfort her. "Hey, remember what we're here for," he reminded her. She nodded and wiped those tears away. "You're right, sweetie. That's all in the past. What's important is right now…and the future. It's unknowable. It's what we make it," she said with hope. Although it wasn't showing, she felt soo happy to have Taka there with her and Masaru too. They were the only two real friends she had ever had in a really long time before returning to the world. They stuck with her to the end, no matter what—even after what she told them and what she did. She finally found a less crowded street near the middle of the city and landed.

"Alright, guys. We're here!" she yelled to them and quickly jumped off, excited. "Wait for me," Taka quickly jumped off too. She took a moment to feel the snow beneath her feet. It felt nice stepping on it again—it felt like home. But for her sweetie, it felt a little strange. The ground is a little slippery and not…fully solid. Well, some parts are. She turned around and laughed at the sight. "You okay, sweetie?" "Yeah2. Just…give me a minute," he chuckled. "Where are we going anyway?" "To eat some real food," she told him, hinting at Southern Water Tribe grub. She was finally going to eat some again. She hadn't for a while—for about six months actually—during the restoration of the Air Nation. They had to travel to all of the four air temples and couldn't eat, or find, any Southern Water Tribe food along the way. Well, couldn't find any authentic ones at least. They mostly ate Earth Kingdom food and, when they would arrive, Air Nomad dishes. Even though it looked great and was delicious—with dishes such as their egg custard tart, fruit pies, and dumplings filled with vegetables, and let's not forget about their moon cakes—she found herself longing for some blubbered seal jerky and seaweed noodles from back home. Just the thought of the delicious, traditional five-flavor soup that the Southerners would usually have for dinner was enough to water her mouth and wonder how awesome it would be if she could eat one now. But that's in the past. They're here now, and she doesn't have to wonder anymore. "I'm home!" she screamed, "food, here I come!"

"You know what, guys? I think I'll just stay here while you guys walk around," Masaru said making himself comfortable on Lefty's back. He made a makeshift bed with their bags and lay his head down and stretched his legs over the huge saddle. "Alright, man," he waved to his friend, bidding him farewell for now whilst Korra was tugging and pulling at his left arm. She couldn't wait any longer and dragged him off. "Come on, come on!" she yelled. "Alright, we're going!" And they were off to explore the rest of the city. It's incredible. What once was a small town filled with tents and igloos has now developed into a large, modern city. The streets are bustling with all sorts of people—both young and old—and buildings stood proud, small though they are. The sun was about to dip on the horizon, bathing the city in its radiant, orange, reddish light. Though a little bit of yellow light was still visible, mixing in with the others to create a sort of…kaleidoscope, a mix of yellow and orange and red. The harbor lighthouse was already far behind them.

Taka followed Korra as they went around the city, greeting people and admiring the architecture. The people are so nice there, he thought. He felt that at least there still exists a place where they can just walk around without being looked at with hatred or contempt and such. Everyone knows who Korra is here. She was wearing her usual light blue Water Tribe clothing again like before her disappearance. She even tied her hair back again too. It felt nice to be amongst her people again. Now that she's not the Avatar anymore, it feels appropriate being among waterbenders—what with her now just being that: a waterbender. "Come on, sweetie. It's just around the corner," she said. "What is?" he replied. "Our dinner," she smiled.

Meanwhile, Masaru was enjoying his sleepy time on top of Lefty, who was also sleeping. He was already in a nice, deep slumber when suddenly, splash! A snowball struck his face. "Argh!" he exclaimed and quickly got up. "Hey! Who threw that?" he yelled out. He looked down over the side to see a few kids were stifling their laughter and huddling close together. "Hey, you kids! Did one of you throw this snowball at me?" "Maybe," one of them said. They were all still laughing quietly. "Well, I'm gonna get you little rascals!" He quickly jumped down, but one of the kids waterbended the snow to intercept him mid-flight, knocking him on his back as he landed. "Hahahaha," they laughed again. Masaru continued to lie on and in the pile of snow, looking quite annoyed.

Korra and Taka finally arrived at the restaurant. It was a small place, but it was big enough. A few people were already inside, sitting down and enjoying their meals. The room itself has that Arctic kinda feel to it. The walls are light blue—almost white—in color and have a snowy, kinda icy texture. There are around six benches in total and three quite big…nooks, I guess you would call them, with the round tables. Korra took a big whiff of the aroma in the room, "Hmmmm, do you smell that? That smells like Water Tribe food," she spoke with enthusiasm. Taka had never had any Southern Water Tribe grub, or any Water Tribe meals for that matter, before. _Should be interesting_ , he thought. Korra had already made her way to the counter to order. "Two five-flavor soups, please." She could already taste it in her mouth, and she couldn't wait to share the moment with her sweetie. "Oh, he's gonna love this," she said enthusiastic. He was still looking for a seat. It wasn't too crowded though as he found one quite easily. It was a wooden bench that comfortably seats four, but they only need the two for now. "Alright, should be here soon," she said sitting down. "What should be here soon?" he asked. "Our food. Hope you don't mind, I ordered for both of us," she explained. He smiled, "Of course not," he didn't really care. Spending time with his sweetie was all that he needed. "So what did you order?" "A traditional Southern Water Tribe dinner. It's called a five-flavor soup." "It…sounds nice," he remarked. "Great. Can't wait for you to taste it. This was my favorite food growing up. It still is, so I hope you like it too," she told him.

"Okay, there will be no more waterbending from now on!" Masaru was yelling a sorta rules to the kids, "this has to be a fair combat. Man to man—uhh, man to little man." As if they were really gonna listen. Another snowball hit his face while he was still talking. Ohh, he looked so annoyed. "I'm gonna get you kids!" he yelled, rushing to them.

Back at the restaurant, Korra was savoring and enjoying her food, and the atmosphere. Nothing beats the real thing after all. Taka on the other hand was having a little bit of trouble with it. He was examining it and swirling it around with his spoon, awkwardly staring at it. "Uhhh, sweetie? What is this thing?" he asked. "Oh…this…is a traditional Southern Water Tribe soup," she answered, a little muffled, with a bit of it still in her mouth, "we usually have it for dinner here. I've been waiting a long time to have it again." Her explanation didn't really help. For her, it was the greatest meal in the world. But to him, it just looks…strange. "What's in it?" "Oh, you know, seaweed, whale, fish, some octopus or squid… Things like that," she explained. He stared at her. _All those things are in this thing,_ he thought. "Well, go on. Have some. Tell me what you think," she told him, eager to see his reaction. Swallowing his doubts, he finally took a spoonful to his mouth. All of a sudden he was filled with this overwhelming sense of…disgust, I guess. Or maybe it was a bitter taste. Either way, he quickly felt like throwing up. He didn't wanna upset her so he tried to hide the look and stomach it as best as he could. "Well, how is it?" she asked him enthusiastically. He reluctantly swallowed it and boy that was a mistake. He quickly covered his mouth as he felt he could throw up right then and there in front of her. She noticed this and asked if everything's okay. He tried and reluctantly shook it off and nodded. "Yep. Never better. That was…something," he replied, "I can honestly say that I've never tasted anything like that before, hehe." She could see plain as day that he didn't enjoy it. But she still smiled. "Sweetie, it's okay if you don't like it," she said," it is a very traditional meal. It can be a little different if you're not used to it." He chuckled and started to feel terrible, "I'm sorry, sweetie. It's just…like you said, very different. Sorry if I ruined this for you." "You didn't ruin anything. Having you here together with me is all I need," she assured him, "besides, this way, I can eat two bowls, haha." He shook his head and they both laughed.

The sun dipped over the horizon just as she was about to finish her second meal. He still couldn't believe that she ate both of 'em. It was the most incredible thing he had ever seen—and he's seen the Avatar bend all four elements, and the Spirit World, and all that stuff that happened six months ago—well, not really. It was still impressive though. "Ahh, that was soooo good," she said with satisfaction after slurping the last drop from the bowl, "it's so good to be back." "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Sorry again for not being able to share this moment with you," he replied. She gave him a soft punch to his left arm, trying to tell him that it's okay. "Ow," he spoke, rubbing his arm. "Oh, don't be such a baby. I didn't hit you hard at all." Most of the other patrons had already left and the owners were starting to close up shop. "Well, it looks like we'll be closing up shortly, guys. You kids better head out soon," he said to them. "Alright, thanks," she replied. "Say, wait a minute. You're Korra, aren't you? The Avatar," he noticed her, "I mean, you were, weren't you?" She was very distraught at him saying that. Being reminded that she was the Avatar only brought back those painful memories again. Taka could see that it affected her very much. Especially knowing the truth…of what happened, of what and who the Avatar really is. "Yeah, I—I…was," she replied reluctantly, "I don't like to talk about it." It was obviously upsetting her. "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to pry like that," he apologized, "I'm Sinnok, btw. Nice to meet you folks." "Nice to meet you too," Taka spoke.

Meanwhile, everything was starting to get quiet outside. The moon was shining up high in the dark sky—it wasn't a full moon. Most of the people were getting ready to sleep and call it a night. Only a few still remain outside still doing activities like practicing their waterbending techniques and walking around the now quiet city. One or two were going on a date it seems. But unbeknownst to all of them, something was approaching the city from the frozen tundra, moving fast…really fast.

"Hey, listen. I know it's probably been a little rough for you the past couple of months. But I just want you to know that the people here in the Southern Water Tribe, and I'm sure at the North too, still support you—Avatar or not," he reassured her. She mustered up a smile, trying to be in the present, and expressed her gratitude. "Thank you," she said and gave a small bow, "for you and all the people here." "You're very welcome. Now I've gotta close up. See you kids tomorrow, alright?" Then, all of a sudden—Boom!—there was a huge rumble from outside—like a bomb going off. The force was enough to shake the room and the chairs and the tables—and they stood up hastily in response. "What the hell was that?" Taka spoke. "Honey, did you feel that? What's going on?!" Sinnok's wife suddenly came out of the kitchen. "I don't know. But it sounds big," he replied. Taka and Korra looked at each other and nodded. They knew what they had to do. "You guys stay here and stay out of sight. We'll do what we can," the former Avatar told them. "Good luck, Avatar," he wished them success for whatever would happen. She chuckled and smiled, "It's just Korra now, remember?" "Haha, right. Well then, good luck…Korra." And with that, they bid them farewell and left to deal with whatever's happening. Though deep down she was a bit worried. If it should come to it, this would be the first battle she would fight not as the Avatar anymore and with only one element at her disposal. But there was nothing she could do about it. Worrying about it would only serve to distract her, and if she could still help people in any way she can, she would do it without hesitation.

As soon as they exited, things looked normal outside the restaurant. And as I've said before, there weren't many people out on the streets anymore. Then they could see a few people running to their right, frightened by something. "Hey, wait!" she yelled out to them. "What's going on?" "Aaaarrggghh!" was all they yelled. "Well that was helpful," Taka came up behind, joking. But Korra looked serious. She could feel something…something familiar. "Oh, great. Them…" she said. "Who?" Just then, something zipped by like lightning and crashed through one of the buildings—thankfully it was empty. Taka quickly hugged Korra to try and shield her from the debris. "Uhhhmm, you can let me go now," she told him. He immediately did so, "Right, sorry." And out of the hole stepped out a figure—it was a spirit, tall and dark in color, and spiky. It turned around—creepy—its face all distorted, and it noticed them. "I knew it," Korra spoke, "it's a dark spirit." "What're you doing here?!" Taka yelled at it, "well, it doesn't matter. We're still gonna kick your ass." It quickly charged at them, fast like before. At that instant the former Avatar froze. For some reason, she couldn't move, she didn't know what to do. But thankfully Taka quickly stepped in and blasted it away with a burst of energy. It flew away a good distance. Energybenders were always good in handling spirits as their energy affects them quite a deal. "Hey, are you okay?" Indeed, she was still looking freaked out and still appeared to be frozen. He took a good shake at her to try and snap her out of it. "Korra!" She looked scared. "I'm sorry, sweetie," she suddenly spoke, "I—I don't know what came over me." "It's alright. But maybe you should just stay here. Let me deal with this, okay?" She nodded and held her forehead—she closed her eyes and let out a tear.

He didn't have time to comfort her again as the spirit quickly rushed back. Zip, zip, zip… It moved so quickly. But then another spirit intercepted it mid-run and slammed it aside and they both ended up in the river. Korra and Taka stood in silence waiting for something to happen. Suddenly the spirit was shot out and up into the air followed by the dark one. "Korra!" it yelled out and launched itself to them. "Ohhh, great." Taka prepared himself to defend while Korra gets out of the way. He shot a few energy blasts, but it fast evaded it and, seemingly teleporting, appeared directly right in front of him. "Oh, crap," he cried out. The energybender quickly dodged the dark spirit's ground-shattering punch and retaliated with a sort of energy lasso, and another, and another—tying it up and immobilizing it for a few seconds.

He was obviously still struggling with maintaining his energybending. He just got it recently after all and didn't use it much during their six months break. "Hahahaha," it laughed ominously, "so the rumors are true. There IS an energybender walking among us again. But you are still soo young. Tell me: how long can you keep this up?" What it said wasn't wrong—Taka could feel his grip slipping and the energy breaking. It wasn't long before it finally shattered and he was repelled back from the backlash and hit a wall. "Urgh!" he exclaimed. He fell to the ground and felt the icy snow press against his face and body. It was cold to the touch. He tried to get up, but his hand slipped and he fell back down before he even got up. It felt…strange. Like thousands, no, millions of tiny little particles rubbing against his hand and cheeks. It was kinda like sand, but…different somehow. They're more condensed together—not as loose as sand…and colder. Strangely, it felt comfortable after a while and he gave in to it, to the feeling of slumber, for a while.

The dark spirit took this opportunity to kill him, but was stopped by the other spirit. It slammed it to the ground from the sky and they started wrestling. It was an even battle as they became equally matched. This spirit had a light green color to its body, also a bit distorted, but more pleasant looking. "You think we're gonna let you do it?!" it said to its dark counterpart. "Hahahahaha! Even if you stop me, even if you kill me, it WILL still happen!" it replied, "you can't stop what's coming." Suddenly, three bright circles of light surrounded and encircled the dark spirit, flowing around it, and immobilized it. "Aaarrggghhhh!" it screamed. The circles grew brighter in a flash of white. The light spirit turned around to see none other than Korra walking towards, using her waterbending to try and control the spirit. The dark spirit calmed down some and became still. Taka had just regained consciousness—rubbing his neck and shaking his head—and stood up to see her subduing the spirit. "Thank you, former Avatar," the spirit expressed its gratitude. Though it may have been too early to start celebrating as the dark spirit quickly regained its senses and broke free of her bond. Crack! "Argh!" the former Avatar yelled as she was pushed back. Taka quickly rushed to her aid, catching her fall. "Don't worry, I got'cha." "Aaaarrrggghhhh!" the dark spirit roared and screamed. But then everything became silent. Something had pierced its chest area—it appeared to be an arm. The dark spirit then dissolved like melting, flowing down to the snowy surface before disappearing. The arm, it turned out, belonged to another spirit—one who's a friend and light blue in color. "What took you so long?" the green spirit asked its friend. "Sorry. Had to deal with another one back home before I could catch up," it replied.

Taka was still trying to help Korra regain her strength. "Are you alright?" he asked her. "Haha. Yeah, thanks for catching me." She stood back up, though wobbling a little—almost losing her balance. At that point, they were overloading with questions and noticed the two spirits having a conversation. What the hell just happened? "Uhm, excuse me?" she interrupted them, "can someone please tell me what's going on, please?" "My apologies, former Avatar. Please forgive us," one spirit spoke. "As you could see, we didn't have time to explain before. That spirit we fought was a very…bad spirit," the other explained. "Yeah, we can tell," Taka responded, "but what was it doing here in the first place? And for that matter, HOW did it get to our physical world?" The two spirits didn't answer, they only looked at each other with concern.

"Uh, hello? We're still right here," Korra said. "Once again, my apologies. When you broke the Avatar Cycle, you inadvertently also broke the barrier between our world and yours that was created by Avatar Wan," it explained, "and since that moment, our two worlds became connected and linked once again as it once was." "So you're saying that now any kind of spirits can just waltz into our world at any time?" Taka asked. "Yes." "Okay. But what was that dark one doing here? And why were you two chasing him?" he inquired further. Again, the spirits paused for a moment. "Alright, that's enough of that!" Korra got angry, "look, we can't help if you won't tell us anything!" "I am sorry, Korra. But as you are no longer the Avatar, it is not your duty anymore to interfere in spiritual matters. No offense, of course."

She was a bit shocked to hear this. Not because it was a surprise—she knew that not being the Avatar anymore meant a lot of things had changed—but because she felt that sense of helplessness again… "Even so, we would still like to help," she told them, wanting to not feel useless. "All we can tell you is that you should be prepared. Since you permanently sealed Mala Ta'ak away, there has been civil unrest in the Spirit World. Others have tried and are still trying to take his place. Some spirits, such as ourselves, are trying to maintain balance, but this is different. Something very evil is coming, former Avatar. And now we must bid you farewell." After giving them that warning, they left the way they came: in a flash like lightning.

"Oh, thank you!" she yelled to them for giving them vague information. "You okay?" he asked her. "Yeah, fine. Just a little frustrated," she replied. He chuckled, "Come on. Let's head back." By that time, some people had gone out of their houses to see what was going on. When they saw their former Avatar and her boyfriend walking down the road, they knew there had been a battle. Course the debris scattered all over the snow and the holes on the ground also gave 'em a clue. A few of them went up and asked them what happened and they explained as best they could. She told them that everything's alright for now and they shouldn't be worried. After that, they all went back inside to their beds.

"He's right though. You're not the Avatar anymore, so it's really none of your business…nor mine for that matter," Taka spoke out, "maybe we should just leave it at that and call it a night. But why do I get the feeling that's not what you're gonna say?" "Of course not. You heard what that spirit said. Avatar or not, I have to do something. WE have to do something. We still have an obligation to help," she replied sternly. Though she seemed to have another reason for that. He could tell that something was a little off with her, but he let it slide for now.

They went back to Lefty to get Masaru. He was looking quite disappointed—most likely from losing his battle with the children. But they were already long gone when they arrived, only Masaru lying on the snow, dripping wet. "What the hell happened to you?" Taka asked. "Don't ask," he said, frustrated, "so how did your day go?" "It was soo good. Come we'll explain on the way," Korra spoke. She led them to the harbor where they could view the ocean in the light of the crescent moon. They explained to him what had happened along the way. "Alright, then. So what do we do now?" he asked them. "We round up the gang and we stop this evil spirit," she answered. "Of course, we don't even know what this evil thing is, or if it's even a spirit," Taka added. "We will, and it's definitely a spirit." They were standing on a sort of coastal wall overlooking the Southern Ocean—the reflection of the moon on the calm, yet still wavy water, and the wind brushing by with its quite haunting, breezy sound gave a chilly and eerie feeling to the night…especially with the city being so quiet now—and in the distance is her statue. It depicts her standing firm with one foot atop a step or rock—not really sure—wearing her usual Water Tribe clothing. "I still don't like that statue," she said jokingly, "I still think it makes me look a little big." The three friends shared a good laugh before calling it a night and ending the day, heading back to town for a good night's rest.


	2. Episode 2: Villains

**Here's episode 2, guys. Hope you enjoy :)**

As the sun rose on a new day, the light subtly hit Korra's face filtered through the half-closed curtains. Naturally she wasn't ready to wake up. She hid her head under her pillow and quickly went back to sleep. But then the door creaked open slowly as someone entered… "Korra. Sweetie?" a voice softly spoke. It was none other than her mother, Senna, ready as ever to "ruin" her morning and wake her up, haha. "Korra? Time to wake up, sweetie," she spoke quite loudly this time. "Mom, please! Just five more minutes," she responded. Senna shook her head— _just like the old days_ , she thought. "Well, if you insist… Taka's already up though. We'll see you soon, honey," she gave her a kiss on the forehead.

She wasn't really paying attention, still too tired for that. Though she heard the part about her sweetie being up. She couldn't believe it. _Taka got up early? That's a first,_ she thought to herself. After that, she laid herself back down and slept for another five minutes. Well, at least that's what she told herself. Then it turned out it was for another hour or so. Slept like a baby. It's hard to wake up when you're already cozy—when you feel just right in bed and your head feels so heavy on the pillow that you just can't seem to muster up the energy to lift it.

When she finally woke up, it was already almost noon, around 11-ish. The sun was shining and the day had already begun for most people. But she didn't really care. She sat up to think about it. One of the perks of not being the Avatar anymore is that you really don't have any responsibilities anymore such as saving the world and maintaining balance between the nations. But even so, she still felt that that was her job, Avatar or not. Wanting to protect people is something that she just…feels right doing. But no matter what—especially now—sometimes you just can't save everyone. Sometimes…you have to know your limits.

These thoughts were inside her mind. Taka wasn't wrong before. She's not the Avatar anymore and she doesn't have access to all four elements anymore. And it wasn't necessarily her job to deal with this anymore either. But if she doesn't—if they don't—who will? These thoughts were heavy on her mind. And she was still haunted by the memories of the past and a vision of her darker self…her former self.

She was still contemplating when the door swung open again. "Sweetie? Are you still asleep?" this time it was Taka going in. She was curling up her arms around her legs, smiling of all things. "Hey, there you are. Everyone was waiting for you. Where were you?" he asked. "Yeah, sorry. Was still sleeping and…thinking," she spoke releasing her legs and propping herself on her elbow. "Well, let's go then."

Except for Masaru, who was all for the sleeping just as she is, everyone had finished their breakfast already. Though her mother saved up two bowls just for them both. Her father, Tonraq, was also there still drinking his morning tea, having not finished it yet, on the table. Their dining room has a medium-sized round table at the middle, no chairs—they usually just sit down on the floor, or rather, the carpet. The walls are decorated with Southern Water Tribe traditional items. "Hey, honey. Finally awake, huh? Haha," he spoke. He stood up to give his daughter a big hug. "So how's my little girl?" She broke it off gently. "Dad, come on. I'm not a little kid anymore," she said. "Hey, whether you're 18 or 68, you'll always be my little girl," he told her, "and no matter what happens, I'll—we'll—always support you." Senna joined in on it. Despite what had happened, they were still a quite happy family. Other than Taka and Masaru, Korra's parents are the only ones who knew the truth about what happened. But they didn't care. They still loved their daughter. Taka smiled at the sight and scratched his head after realizing the awkwardness of the situation for him, and thus left to go wake Masaru.

When he entered, his friend was actually already up and just about ready. "Hey, dude. What's up?" he greeted his friend. "Nothing. Just came here to wake you up, but I see you're already ready," he told his friend. "Gotta admit. I'm surprised to see you already up." "You gotta have more faith in me, haha. Come on, let's go."

"You really have to do this, don't you?" Tonraq asked his daughter. "Your father has a point, honey," added Senna, "like you said, you're not the Avatar anymore. You don't need to do this. Please." She looked at both her parents with a smile. She understood their concern, but she still wanted to do it. Guess she was still used to being the hero. "Thank you for your concern, both of you. But I…" she sighed before getting serious, "I need to do this. I can't just stand idly by when the world is in danger, again. And don't worry, I won't be alone." "Damn right you won't be alone," Taka suddenly said. Masaru greeted her parents with a bow, "Good morning."

"Good morning, Masaru. I saved a seal jerky for you on the table," she told him. "Oh, thank you very much, mam." He was very much excited at that. Apart from being hungry, he really loved their blubbered seal jerkies. He quickly sat down and started eating. Her parents stared in amazement at the sight. Both Korra and Taka were already used to it, so they just smiled and laughed.

Anyway, realizing that they can't stop their daughter, they only wished her good luck and to be careful. "Don't worry. I'll keep her safe. I promise," Taka assured them. "Hey, right here, people. And I'm not exactly powerless," she spoke. Senna gave her a big hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Of course you're not, sweetie," she said. Tonraq would've joined them, but this is something he believed his daughter needed to do alone, without him. At least for now… Plus he had other stuff to do. Word was that something big was going down in the Northern Water Tribe. "I'll help in any way I can if you guys need me," he told them. "Thanks, dad." Korra gave her father a hug and bid her parents farewell before they set off on their journey.

"So what do we do now?" Taka asked her. "First off, we gather up everyone." "And where exactly are they?" he inquired further. "They're… Uhhh…" She didn't know where they were. Naturally, she was still a bit hardheaded, even though she has matured much from past experiences, and quick to act, but not think. So of course, she called Tenzin and told him what was going on, well partly, and asked him whether he knows where they are or if he could contact them.

Elsewhere, on a small, remote volcanic island isolated in the middle of the ocean, two guards were patrolling, protecting some kind of…a fire-shaped object. It was laid on a small pedestal in the middle of the lava surrounded by a cage, seemingly unreachable by anyone. The guards, wearing black suits and helmets, were standing on a circular, metal platform overlooking the cage. There was a small building sitting in the rocks above them acting as a house, a place to rest and eat. "Well, there's nothing today, just like yesterday," one guard said. "Yep. And the day before that, and the day before that, AND the day before that…" the other replied. "I'm actually quite happy and feel lucky that no one's tried to attack us. You know what's at stake here. Remember what Avatar Korra told us," he reminded his friend. "I know, I know. I wonder how the others are doing though."

Meanwhile, Korra and the gang had just arrived back at the Southern Air Temple. She jumped off of Lefty and was greeted by Tenzin. "Korra, welcome back," he said, "how are you guys doing?" "We're doing good, thanks," she replied followed by a bow. "So have you contacted them?" she asked. "Yes, I have. It seems that they're all at Republic City right now. Mako's continuing his job as a police officer and Asami's busy running her family's company," he explained. She felt a little hesitation and worry in her heart. Republic City… It's the city that's not a big fan of her right now. Are they ready to see her again? What if they're greeted with hate? These thoughts were racing through her mind. "What about Bolin?" she then asked. "Hmmm, I think he's lazing around somewhere in their apartment." She smiled a sincere smile, "Thank you, Tenzin. Come on, guys. Let's go." "Umm, might I ask what this is about? You were kinda vague on the radio." She stopped for a moment, trying to think whether she should tell him or just keep him in the dark for now. "Uhhh, nothing," she replied, maybe a little too fast, "we just wanna see them again. Hang out like old times." He chuckled, "Alright then, have fun." With that, they hopped on and were on their way to Republic City. The former Avatar looked a bit sad though. _Hope everything's gonna be okay_ , she thought to herself. And of course, Tenzin knew she wasn't telling him everything—it was plain as day for him. She was her mentor for quite a while and had learned her behaviors quite well, especially when lying. He became worried again that she might do something stupid. She DID just return from a one-year disappearance after all. But there was nothing he could do about it, so he let it go for the moment.

Elsewhere, on a remote mountaintop reaching high near the clouds, two other guards were protecting another object, this time in the shape of air or wind. "Man, it really gets cold up here sometimes," she spoke. "Well, we are up on the mountains," her friend replied. They were only outside to check on the object. It was fine, of course, sitting atop its pedestal in the middle of a cage inside a cave. "Alright, let's go back inside." "Finally," she was thrilled to get out of this cold. They exited the cave and he used his earthbending to seal the entrance. It wasn't really an entrance, just an opening that was created. The point was to make it look like just another ordinary rock. He then pushed it down back into the mountain and sealed it there. Now it looks like just like any ordinary mountaintop. Not even very big.

"There. Let's go," he said. "Finally." She grabbed hold of him and flew them both out of there with her firebending back to another mountain close-by where their small house resides. "Ahhhh, feels nice to be back inside." She quickly made herself a cup of warm tea and sat down on the chair near the radio to drink. He grabbed a cup too, might as well, and sat down next to her and took a sip. The warmth of the tea felt nice going down their throats. It was a pretty comfortable house too, specifically designed to counteract the cold temperatures and high wind speeds. It had two beds for each of them, a dining table, and a spot for the radio. There was a closet for supplies too and a window, though there was nothing see at the time. It was misty outside and they couldn't see anything. Usually the other mountains would be visible and it would be a truly majestic and beautiful sight.

"This house is pretty nice for a guard house," he commented. "Yeah, it is. Though the thing we're guarding isn't exactly any ordinary item either and the people guarding it would have to stay here for a very long time. I think Avatar Korra designed all the living quarters for the others herself too, right?" "I think so. Like you said, with the job we have to do, I guess she wanted to make sure that everyone would be comfortable while protecting the keys or something like that," he answered. "Though, knowing what these things are for, I would protect it no matter what," she was worried, "speaking of which, we haven't heard from her in months. Could it be that…?" "I don't know. I'm gonna call the others." He reached for the radio and did just that. Back at the volcano, the radio statics and his voice can be heard through it. "Damn, it's good to finally hear another voice again," the guard said, picking up the radio, "hey, yeah. This is the fire team. We hear you." "Anyone else?" "Yeah, water team here." "Earth team here too. We hear you loud and clear."

"Well, since everyone's answering, I guess everything's okay?" the air team guard asked. "Yeah, we're good here. It's quite boring, to be honest," the fire team guard replied. "Same here", "Yeah, same here." They were all fine. No one's actually ever even tried to steal the objects. Everything about this operation is beyond secret. No one else knows about the locations or even the existence of the objects other than Korra and the guards. "Soo…have any of guys heard from Korra?" the water team asked. The water object was hidden somewhere what seemed to be underground surrounded by layers of ice and snow. "Nope," the fire team answered. "Nope," the earth team added. The earth object was, surprisingly, also somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Another small island with a quite dense jungle in the middle-it was there where the earth object was hidden and protected. "Do you guys think she…you know?" the air team asked them, worried. "No, I don't think so," the earth team replied, "when I went back for supplies, I heard talks that she came back to Republic City. She's alive. But here's the weird part: the rumor is that she's not the Avatar anymore." What? But how is that possible?" "You got me, but that's what I heard." "Well then, let's hope it's just a rumor. Even if it were true, Korra entrusted us with a very important task, so let's get back to it," the air team signed off. "Alright, see you guys."

"Do you really think that's true? That she's not the Avatar anymore," she asked him. "I don't know. But even so, why wouldn't she contact us? This thing that she asked us to protect…" he was thinking. "Do you think she forgot?" He paused for a moment, unsure of what to think or answer. "I don't know." Crash! Suddenly there was a loud sound that came from outside. She put down her cup and looked out the window. "Anything?" he asked. There was nothing—just the sound of the mountain and the wind howling. "Should we check it out?" "Yeah, let's go."

They ventured back out into the cold air of the mountains. Of course their first thought was of the object—or the "key" as they call it—to make sure that it's safe. But as they were about to fly off to the spot where it was being held, faint sounds—like bursts of small explosions flying through the air—could be heard, followed by another…and another… "Do you hear that?" she said. Then the sound appeared again, though this time it was heading towards them. "Look out!" he pushed her aside. Boom! The patch of ground they were standing on exploded. Standing far away on another mountain were four individuals. "Dammit! You missed," their leader said. He was an airbender named Zaheer. "Sorry, sweetie. But how was I supposed to know they could see it coming?" his girlfriend replied. Her name was P'Li, a powerful firebender with the rare ability of combustionbending. The explosion was courtesy of her. "Well then, looks like we'll have to do this the hard way. Ghazan, get down there!" he ordered. "Sure thing. Ming-Hua, give me a hand?" "Yeah, sure. Haven't killed anyone in weeks," she replied. They were an earthbender and waterbender, respectively. Ming-Hua was a special kind of waterbender though. She was born without arms and used her waterbending to create arms-like appendages using the water she bends...as well as other forms.

He then earthbended the ground and levitated it, using it as a platform of sorts. The waterbender hopped on and they both flew towards the air team. "Contact the others!" he yelled to her. But Ming-Hua quickly jumped off, transforming her arms into scythes, and tried to kill her. She dodged them and quickly retaliated with some firebending. Woosh! Woosh!

The other guard earthbended a piece of the mountain and threw it towards Ghazan, but he dispatched it easily and quickly. "Is that all you've got? Haha!" he shouted to him. He broke off a small piece of the platform he was using to fly and broke that off into even smaller pieces. He levitated them around him before sending them like bullets to the guard. Pew! Pew! Pew! "Huh!" He dodged them as best as he could, but two or three managed to hit their target. "Argh!" he exclaimed in pain. He fell back against the side of the mountain as his arm and leg got hit. He sat there for a moment to recuperate, but Ghazan quickly trapped him using the surrounding earth and he hopped off to his location. "What do you guys want?!" the guard asked him. "You know damn well what we want," he replied, knowing what they're guarding. "Impossible," the guard stated, "how? How do you know of the key?" He moved forward and grabbed the guard by the neck. "Let's just say we have a friend in a very dark place," he answered ominously, "who very much wants revenge."

The other guard was still battling with Ming-Hua, but it was obviously a losing battle. The waterbender was hardly breaking a sweat while she was pushed to her edge. It was no surprise—the waterbender got a few wounds in. She was bleeding around her right waist—it wasn't too bad, but still. While she was trying to recuperate, she was hit with a surprise punch that knocked her out. She fell down unconscious and the waterbender grabbed her and went back to Ghazan. She threw the guard against the wall, "Urgh!" she exclaimed as she fell down. "You can kill us if you want. We'll never tell you where it is," the guard spoke, determined and holding his ground. "Okay, maybe we'll do that. And what makes you think we won't find it?" Ghazan threatened him. "Cause Avatar Korra will stop you. She'll never let you do it." "The Avatar? Hahahahahahahahaha!" they both let out a huge laugh. "Haven't you heard? The Avatar is dead. There is no Avatar anymore," Ming-Hua happily told them. He looked very shocked, "No… It can't be."

As the three of them were talking, the firebender guard woke up, but made sure not to let anyone notice. She was planning on catching them off guard. "Alright, look. We'll give you one last chance to tell us where it is. If not, well, I'm gonna enjoy killing you," the earthbender said. Just then, the firebender quickly got up and firebended towards Ming-Hua, catching her by surprise, and she fell from the mountain. "Ming-Hua!" Ghazan screamed for his friend. But the guard earthbended himself out of the makeshift rock prison, broke it off, and returned the favor by imprisoning Ghazan in a rock prison too followed by a punch to the face. He was out of the game for a while. But Ming-Hua suddenly flung herself up to the air, having survived the fall by hanging onto the side of the mountains, and launched herself down. Transforming her arms into scythes again, she tried swinging at the firebender, but she dodged and it hit the side of the mountain instead. Crack!

The earthbender quickly earthbended and launched a rock towards the waterbender's back, hitting her. It caused her to stumble for a few seconds while his partner firebended to her right arm, causing it to dissipate. "Aaarrghhh!" she exclaimed before falling down from tiredness. This battle seemed to have been won… But they were forgetting something: the two other people that were with Ghazan and Ming-Hua. They've gone from the place they were standing. "Argh!" the firebender was suddenly pushed back in a gust of wind. She nearly went over the edge, but was able to capture herself by using her firebending, utilizing them like jets from her hand. "Noooooo!" the earthbender screamed before trying to retaliate. Unfortunately, Zaheer quickly used his airbending and slammed him against the wall before freeing Ghazan. "Wake up!" he yelled to him, slapping his cheeks. But he was still unconscious. The firebender then flew back straight for Zaheer and firebended towards him, but it was quickly redirected by P'Li back towards her, catching her by surprise, and she took the full blast of it. "Aaarrrgghhh!" she screamed as she got burned. "Noo…" spoke the earthbender as he tried to regain himself.

She was lying there on ground, badly burned. But even so, she still found the strength to stand back up. "I'm not giving up… Avatar Korra… Gave us a mission," she spoke sparsely and quietly to herself. "Wow, you guys are good," P'Li teased them. "That's why she chose us…" she answered. "But it's still not good enough. Goodbye." She then used her combustionbending to hit her directly. Time seemed to have slowed down for the guard as the explosion headed towards her. She knew what was about to happen. Boom! Her body was flung off the mountain, or rather what was left of it. "NOOOOO!" the other guard screamed for her. He angrily got up and wanted to attack them, but was quickly subdued by Ming-Hua. She pinned him to the wall using her water arms. "Now then, we'll ask you one last time. Where. Is. The key?"asked Zaheer. "I will never tell you! You can kill me if you want. You'll never find it!" "Oh, I think we will. And we don't actually need you." The guard was shocked by this revelation. "No! You can't! Don't you know what it can do?!" "I know very well what it can do. That's why we're doing it," the airbender answered, "now, goodbye." He then covered the guard's face in a sorta air bubble and sucked all the air out of it, suffocating him. The waterbender then released him and he dropped dead.

"Well, you killed him. That's great, but can we actually find the key without him?" Ghazan asked just getting back up. "Of course we can. I already know where it is," his leader replied, "come on, follow me." He took them to the exact spot where it's hidden. "It's here, hidden beneath the mountain itself," he told them, "Ghazan! Use your earthbending. Open it up." You got it, boss." He did so and the mountain opened up like before and lo and behold, there it was: the key's chamber. He raised it up and opened a path for them to enter. "I gotta admit, pretty clever hiding spot," P'Li said. "Yeah… How did you find it?" Ming-Hua asked. "While you guys were fighting with the guards, P'Li and I went around and searched for it. Eventually we found it," he explained. And just like that, their prize was right in front of them: the air key.

"Well, there it is," the earthbender stated. "It doesn't look like much, does it?" P'Li commented. "Maybe so, but we all know what it's capable of. Ghazan, if you don't mind…" He stepped forward and metalbended the cage bars open. It was a bit difficult—it creaked and bended slowly as he did so. But eventually he made a big enough opening for them to enter and grab the key. "Finally," Zaheer spoke as he held it in his hand, "the first piece is ours."


	3. Episode 3: Reunion

After flying for many miles, there it was just beyond the clouds: Republic City, the capital of the United Republic. Once it was a great city to visit where the Avatar was welcomed at anytime. Well, most times. Now, she'd be lucky if she could find anyone who would want to talk to her. There were still a few people who would, who still appreciated what she did for them. _I'm sure she had a good reason for doing it_ , people would think. She put all those thoughts behind her though as they flew down on top of Lefty. Once again she was sitting at the helm, steering the magnificent bison.

"So we're just here to get Mako, Bolin, and Asami, and we're off, right?" Taka asked. "Yep, that's the plan," Korra answered. "Yeah, what IS the plan exactly? Cause we STILL don't know what we're doing OR what this new evil thing is," Masaru so graciously added.

"He's got a point, sweetie."

"I know, I know. That's why we're gonna go see Mako. He's working with the police now, so he I hope he knows something," she replied.

"And why would a cop know anything about spirits?"

"Well, if the portals ARE really open and spirits are free to roam our world again, they should know something…right?" "

Right. Cause that's what they're known for," Taka sarcastically replied.

Eventually, they landed near the docks. As the former Avatar took her first step on the wooden platform, she couldn't help feeling a sense of worry…and a little bit of fear. She was sweating a bit, I believe. The people there were already staring at her—knowing who she is—doing the exact thing that she was worried they would do. Korra looked away, trying not to let it get to her. Taka then grabbed her shoulder, "Don't worry," he said, "come on, let's go." "Right…" she spoke. "Come on, Masaru!" He was still on top of Lefty trying to find his trusty sword. "Ah, there you are," he said, finally finding it, "Alright, let's go." But as he walked backwards trying to holster the sword, he tripped and fell down to the wooden platform. "Urgh! Ouuuchhh," he exclaimed as he lay in a very funny, but seemingly very painful position. They both stared at him with the usual expression of "Of course" and rolled their eyes. "Oh, my spirits," Korra said jokingly. They then resumed their walk.

Meanwhile, in town, Mako was busy doing his job—actually, he was right then in a convoluted chase with a few criminals, racing through the streets. He was wearing his official police uniform. A loud Vroom!...was what everyone heard as he passed by on his motorcycle. "This is the police! Pull over your car RIGHT now or I'll have to use force!" he announced to the criminals. "Hey, check this out," one of the thugs spoke, "what makes this cop think we're gonna listen? Hahaha." They were members of the triple threat triad, doing their usual brand of criminal activities. One of them, a firebender, stood up and leaned over the left side of the car door. He then lightingbend towards Mako, though he was able to avoid it. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. And then it happened again and one more time. Mako managed to easily avoid all of them and retaliate with one himself. Boom! It successfully hit one of the car's tires and it started to veer out of control. "Whoa! What's going on?!"—"Drive straight, you idiot!" were a few of the things screamed by the thugs at each other. The earthbender of the group earthbend the road in front of them in an attempt to stabilize the car, but under the condition, didn't do it properly and only succeeded in tumbling them over. The car jumped and rolled across the road until it finally stopped, landing upside down.

Mako stopped his motorcycle directly behind them and hopped off. The triple threat weren't looking so threatening anymore. Two of them were still hanging inside the car with their seatbelts buckled, while one of them stumbled out; they were all definitely very dizzy and confused. Mako quickly grabbed him by the shirt and said, "You really thought you could get away, didn't you?" The man started laughing dizzily before passing out. "Didn't think so," he continued. He cuffed him and the rest too, and brought them back to the station.

At the police station, he handed him over to another officer to be processed. "Well, Mr. Mako. That's your fifth capture this month. Good job," a voice suddenly spoke. He turned around to see none other than Republic City's very own Chief of Police, Lin Beifong. "Though I can't help but wonder why you've been working very hard recently," she continued, "is there something I should know?" "Uhh, no, Chief," he replied, "just trying to do my job." "Riigghht…" she responded with a hint of sarcasm and disbelief. "Well then, carry on." "Yes, Chief!" he gave her a salute. As the police chief walked away, stern and hands behind her back, she remembered something she wanted to tell him. "Oh, btw, there's someone here to see you. An old friend," she told him, smiling. Mako looked a little confused, _An old friend?_ he thought.

He then went to the waiting area of the station to see this old friend. He was surprised to see Korra and friends sitting there, waiting for him. "Korra!" he yelled out as he saw her, smiling. "Mako!" she stood up and ran to him. She jumped and gave him a big hug. "Looks like you haven't changed much," she remarked. "Wish I could say the same for you, haha. You've definitely changed a lot. Certainly not that same girl I used to know," he replied. She looked rather upset hearing that—not really upset, I guess, just…uncomfortable. "…in a good way, I mean," he added, noticing her discomfort. "Haha. Thanks." Taka and Masaru then both joined them. "Hey, man. What's up?" Masaru spoke. "Yeah, everything's good. Same old, same old, I guess," he replied, "so, what brings you guys over here?" "Well actually, this was Korra's idea. If it were up to me—" Suddenly he was hit. "Oww," he said rubbing his shoulder. Korra had elbowed him to shut him up. "Shut up," she spoke quickly. "We're here cause we need your help. There's something big happening, so I'm getting the gang back together," she explained. "Oh, I see…" he replied, sounding unsure. He was scratching his head.

"So let's go. We'll go get your brother and Asami and we'll head off." "Umm, Korra. Wait," he stopped her, "I can't really just up and leave everything. I do have a job now, you know." "Oh…right. Of course," she said, looking disappointed. "Hey, man. If you can't come, we understand. But, and I can't believe I'm saying this, this actually looks pretty bad," Taka tried to explain, "it's pretty scary, actually. We could use your help. So are you sure you can't make an exception for this? Take a few days off maybe?" Getting more confused than before, Mako thought hard about it, scratching his head. "I just have a bad feeling about this. We really could use your help," the former Avatar said further. "Trust me, man. If Korra's got a bad feeling about it, then it's most likely gonna be pretty bad," Masaru added. He was right though. Korra has never been wrong before about these kinds of things. Her bad feelings are almost always proven right.

Mako gave a big sigh before finally, reluctantly, agreeing to go and help them. "Alright, alright. I'll go." Korra shouted a big "yes!" and jumped in happiness. "BUT… I gotta go do something first. Just wait for me here, okay? Shouldn't be a few minutes," the firebender told them. After that, he walked away.

The gang sat back down on one of the benches to wait for him. "Wow. You actually managed to convince him to come," Masaru said. "Hey, I helped too," added Taka. "We're really doing this just cause some spirits said that something's coming?" "Why would they lie?" Korra spoke. True enough, they didn't really have an answer. "I don't know. But spirits are always being cryptic. Exactly like those ones before," Masaru continued. "Not really. Some of them are…pretty straightforward actually. Trust me." Her eyes widened a bit as she said that. Her mind was taken back to a time when she talked with them. As she said, some of them were actually very…blunt. That's a pretty accurate word, I think. "Well, anyway, let's just get this over with," he sighed.

They waited quite a few minutes for their friend to return; Masaru fell asleep and Taka was trying to get rid of the boredom, apparently, by lying down on the floor with his legs up on the bench. Korra was noticeably looking worried. She was starting to get these…really bad feelings, worse than before. _What's going on in the spirit world? And what's coming?_ These questions were in her mind. But mostly, she couldn't help feeling like she forgot something… Something was gnawing at the back of her mind. But she couldn't quite get at it. "Sweetie?" the energybender spoke, "you seem troubled." "Hmm?" she was snapped out of her rumination, "no, it's just… I'm just taking it all in. It's actually quite nice to be back here. At least no one here at the station's looking at us weird," she replied.

"Yeah, just don't think about it. And also, it's gotta be nice to finally see an old friend. And we're gonna see more soon."

"Yeah, it is. Well, Mako is Mako. Haha."

"Speaking of which, when are we gonna see this 'old friend' you mentioned back in the Spirit World? Or did we already meet them? Is he/she in the group?" Her smile started to disappear slowly. "With all the excitement going on, I actually forgot. Haha. Sorry," he continued on. "Oh yeah," she remembered as well. Though right at that moment she wished that she didn't, or that Taka hadn't mentioned it or reminded her.

He sat up and asked what the matter was. But she couldn't find the strength or the courage to answer that question. She was, just like during the battle with the spirits back at the South Pole, frozen, staring blankly. Taka got up and sat back right next to her and tried to ask her. "Sweetie? You alright?" he was worried. "Yeah," she answered, still staring blankly, "it's just that… You reminded me of…her." "Who?" Yeah, she was being vague. But you can't really blame her. "My best friend…in the whole world…" she started crying, tears flowing down her cheek. "Hey, don't worry. We're gonna go see her too, okay?" he, almost nonchalantly, innocently replied, not knowing the full extent of what was going on. "No, Taka. You don't get it," she continued, "we… We can't see her, okay?!" She yelled a little for that last one.

"Why not?"

"Sweetie… I can't talk about it, okay? I DON'T want to. At least, not right now."

"Alright, sure. Then just whenever you're ready, okay? Just know that I'm here for you, whenever you feel like talking about it."

He gave her a little smile—though he couldn't bring himself to give a full smile, knowing that there's something bothering her—and she hugged him close and tight, still crying. And well, he didn't really know what to do, or say for that matter, other than just to try and comfort her. He stroked her back gently.

"Okay, all done," a voice suddenly spoke. Mako was all ready to go. She quickly tried to snap out of it and just forget. She wiped the tears away and smiled to him…or at least tried. "Arrreee you okay?" he asked, confused to see her like that. "Yeah, I'm fine," she spoke quickly and stood up, "let's go." "O-kay?" the firebender was even more confused. "Just let it go, man. Trust me," the energybender told him. "Masaru, wake up! Come on, let's go!" "Huh?! What?" he stood up, "oh right. Le-let's go." Really confused, the firebender just agreed, "Yeah, okay. Let's go, I guess." They all then walked towards the entrance to exit; Korra was standing in front of the wall next to it, one hand leaning against it and the other covering her eyes, looking quite distraught—though she wasn't crying. "Sweetie, are you sure you're okay?" he asked her. She snapped herself out of it, regained her composure, sort of, and took a deep breath. She fixed herself up, "Yeah," she replied with a smile and head up high, "let's go." As they head outside, Taka couldn't help but wonder what could be bothering her so much, to put her in such a state. But he also knew that once his sweetie sets her mind on something, or says "not right now", he couldn't sway her. So he let it go for now. She'll tell him when she's ready…right?

Outside, they all waited on the side of the street in front of the station. Mako was looking at his watch, "Haha. Of course you're late," he said with a chuckle. "Uhh, Mako? What are we doing?" Korra asked. "Waiting for our ride. What, did you think we were gonna walk?" he answered.

"Nooo, I thought we were gonna use your car."

"Uhh, I don't have a car."

"You don't? Right, I…I knew that," she completely forgot, "so who's picking us up?"

"Here she comes right now."

Right then, a long and sleek black satomobile drove in, at quite a high speed, and skidded before coming to a halt and parked next to them. The driver, wearing a helmet, got out to greet them. "Hey, guys. Long time no see," she spoke, taking off her helmet. "Asami!" Korra yelled in excitement. "Hey, Korr-urgh!" she couldn't finish her sentence. The former Avatar quickly jumped and gave her a big hug, and they spun around for a second. "Alright, Korra. Calm down," she said.

"Sorry, I'm just really happy to see you."

"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too. Hey, sweetie," she then walked up to Mako and gave him a kiss. "Alright then, if everyone's ready…" The waterbender already jumped in the back seat (she was excited to finally get everyone back together), ready to get Bolin and be on their way. But little did she know that not everything would go according her way just because she thought it was or cause she thought it was gonna be fun. "I'm so excited you can join us on our mission, Asami," she excitedly said. "Woah, woah. What?" the engineer spoke in a confused manner, "I'm just here to give you guys a ride." Her smile vanished right then and there, like the butterflies had flown away and the sunshine disappeared; her heart was heavy again. The feelings started coming back little by little…the memories. Why couldn't everything just go with it? Why couldn't EVERYONE?

"Sweetie, you didn't tell her?" the engineer asked.

"Yeeeaahhhh, I was going to… But when I got out, she seemed to be in a pretty bad mood, soo…" the firebender explained. "Oh, I…see. Well, I'm sorry, Korra," she apologized, "but I've still got a company to run. I can take you guys to Mako's apartment to pick up Bolin, and then back to the harbor, but that's it." Of course, the former Avatar was disappointed, but after all the disappointments she had faced that day, she wasn't that surprised. "No, it's alright," she said in a sorta straight face. Maybe indifferent is a better word. But she quickly put on a smile again—she didn't wanna feel that way. What was the point anyway? "Really, it's no problem," she reasserted herself, "it was still good to see you though. Alright then, let's go." They all looked at each other, knowing full well what she was really feeling. But they bit their tongue, for now, and got in too. And off they went across the stony, but level road.

They went past a many buildings on their journey. Korra couldn't help but wonder at them all. There was nothing really special about them, but she hadn't been there in quite a time, so it feels almost new again to her. Republic City has seen a few changes in her absence. Thankfully, the city's metalbending police force is more than capable handling the protecting of the city. But that only serves as another reminder to our young waterbender of how obsolete she is. She knew that the world doesn't need the Avatar anymore, and now that she doesn't even have her Avatar powers anymore, does that make her even more worthless? _Of course not_ , she thought. It doesn't matter whether she's the Avatar or not. There is a purpose to her existence. There's a purpose to everyone's existence. She just had to believe that…to have faith.

After a while, they crossed a small bridge over a wide, long river running throughout the middle of the city. It was dark blue in color and flowing straight and true in one direction. Korra leaned over the side of the car and vaguely saw her reflection in the quite murky water. She smiled a little smile. "Don't worry. We're almost there," Mako suddenly spoke. "Hmm? Oh yeah. No, it's fine," she replied. "Okay."

Eventually, they arrived at Mako's apartment, or rather, the building where his and Bolin's apartment resided. It was an average sized building. It spanned three floors by the looks of it—two windows in a row on each floor and on each side. It was built using red bricks, and a ledge made of concrete separated each of the floors on the outside. It was standing at the end of the street at a corner. To the right of it is another apartment building, also to the left of it around the corner. "Well, here we are," the firebender spoke, "home sweet home." Everyone got out and headed for the entrance…everyone except for Korra. She was still pretty out of it. She wasn't staring blankly, but her mind was someplace else. "Sweetie?" Taka grabbed her shoulder, "let's go." She gave him a smile and quietly said, "Alright." She moved over to his side before getting out and stepping onto the pavement. "Guys, come on!" Asami yelled to them. "Coming!" They both ran inside.

"Why, hello, Mako. Back so soon?" the landlady greeted him. "Hi, Ms. Tanaka. Yeah, I'm taking a few days off. Just here to pick up my brother and we'll be on our way again," he replied. "Oh, I see. How lovely," she said with a smile, "a vacation's always nic—" She stopped suddenly after noticing Korra. "Wait a minute… Why, you're the Avatar, aren't you?" she asked her, a little surprised. Korra shied away a little, feeling uncomfortable. "Uhm, yeah," she answered a bit quiet, almost a whisper. There was a silence for a moment. The landlady then gave a big smile before finally saying, "You're just how I remembered you. It's so nice to have you back." The former Avatar was surprised by what she said. But she had to have known deep down that not everyone in Republic City hated her. There's bound to be a few people who still appreciated what she did, no matter what. "Thank you," she replied with a bow.

"You're welcome, my dear."

"But you do know that I'm not the Avatar anymore…don't you?"

"Oh…" she was surprised to hear that. "No, I didn't. But it's still nice to have you back, I think. Avatar or not," she told her.

"Thank you for saying that," she bowed again. After that, they moved along and headed for the apartment. "See, Korra. Not EVERYONE hates you," Asami tried to comfort her, half-jokingly, putting her arm around Korra's shoulder. "Thanks, Asami," she said sarcastically with a smile, "that's real comforting, hahaha." They both shared a laugh.

"Well, you needed a good laugh."

Arriving at the door, Mako got his key out and unlocked it. "Bolin? Where are you, bro?" The apartment was quite small—enough for two people—with the living room directly inside after entering. It had one long couch (comfortably sits two), two small sofas—one by the window and one next to the couch—and a small, wooden dining table in the middle with four chairs, two on each side. Another door laid to the left that led to the bedroom and to the left of that door was the kitchen. Though it wasn't really a kitchen as it was all connected—there wasn't a separate room for it. It had a sink, and theirs was still filled with dirty plates and bowls. To the right of it laid a small stand that had a radio lying on top. Inside the bedroom were two small beds, one of which still had a slumbering Bolin in it, blanket on the floor.

The firebender sighed and shook his head slightly, "He's still asleep…of course. Haha." He walked up to the door and opened it. "Aww, he's still fast asleep," Korra spoke all cutesy. "BOLIN! Wake up, buddy!" she suddenly screamed. "Aaarrgghhhh!" the earthbender fell out of bed. He got up, stretching his arms and yawning, "Urgh, what? What's going on?" He scratched his head before turning around to notice Korra standing next to him. "Huh?" he spoke at first before… "KORRA! Hey, how's it going?" He gave her a really big hug—she looked really uncomfortable.

"Well, I won't be good if you keep hugging me like this," she said a bit constricted.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Hey, big bro."

"Hey. Can you, uhmm, put some clothes on so we can talk?"

Bolin looked down to notice that he was only wearing boxers. "Uhh, right. Be right back. In fact, can you guys just wait outside?" he pushed them all out and closed the door. Slam!

"Still the same old Bolin," Korra stated with a chuckle.

He quickly went to the closet and tried to find his clothes. "Ah, there you are!" he says, finding them. He fell down trying to put his shirt on. "Woah! Argh!" Crash! "Uhmm, is he okay, sweetie?" Asami asked. Mako was putting his hand over his face. "Oh, you know…" he answered. The earthbender then opened the door, fully clothed, struggling. "Hey, guys," he leaned against the door frame, "so what's up?" "We're going on an adventure! Are you with us?" Korra excitedly told him, in a way to convince him.

"Seriously? Well…. Of course I'm with you! It'll be like old times!" Bolin gave Korra another big hug, "Team Avatar is back!" He immediately bit his tongue after saying that last sentence. Everyone was worriedly signaling to him to stop with Asami making a neck-cutting motion.

"Oh no. Korra, I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't…"

"Hahaha. It's okay, really," she said with a smile, "but we should rename though since I'm not the Avatar anymore. It wouldn't make sense to call ourselves 'Team Avatar'."

"You're right," Taka suddenly spoke, "how about 'Team Korra' instead? It's not very creative, but it's appropriate. Put your hands up if you agree." Everyone did so immediately.

"Alright, it's settled then."

"Alright then! Team Korra GO!" Bolin shouted before running outside. "Uhmmm, where are we going?" "Come on, little bro. We'll tell you on the way," Mako told him, walking out together. "Sure you can't come with us, Asami? Last chance," Korra asked her again. The engineer smiled, "You're right. Seeing u back together again DOES bring back old memories I'm fond of," she said, "I want to, Korra, but…"

"But what?"

"Like I said, I have a company to run."

"Oh, come on. We both know Future Industries will be fine without you for a few days."

"Maybe, but… I'm sorry, Korra."

"Just promise me you'll think about it while we're still here. If by the time we leave you still wanna stay, then I won't bother you anymore. But until then, just think about it, okay? Please," the former Avatar told her. "Haha. Okay, Korra. I'll indulge you this time. But I'm telling you, I don't think I'm changing my mind," she replied. "We'll see," Korra said smiling auspiciously, "let's go." Meanwhile, the two best friends were quite confused for some reason. "Taka, what just happened?" Masaru asked his friend. "I'm not sure…" he gave an answer. "You coming, guys?" Korra asked, peeking from outside. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go."

As they were walking down, Taka couldn't help but notice Korra's change in mood. It was…strange. "Uhmm, sweetie?" he spoke scratching his head, "you seem…I don't know, better? now." "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Well…"

"I think he's talking about how you were awfully quiet on the way here and now all of a sudden you're very cheerful," Masaru interrupted. "Oh…that." "Thank you, Masaru" the energybender replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome, buddy."

"Sweetie. I think it's great that you're in a better mood now and feeling like your old self again, but… I just wanna make sure you're okay," he told her. "I'm…fine, sweetie," she said, pausing a bit, before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, "now come on." Taka had an uneasy feeling in the back of his mind. "Korra, wait," he grabbed her arm, "Masaru, can you leave us? Just go on ahead. Tell 'em we'll be right there." "O-kay," he replied, confused. He then went on ahead to meet the rest outside. "O-kay. What's up?" the former Avatar inquired. "Nothing. I just… Before we go on our big adventure, can we just hang out for a little while, just the two of us? Maybe walk around the city. I haven't been here in…a while and it would be nice to see it again," he explained. When he said that last part, it reminded him of his parents. He felt that sadness again, a little, but he quickly got rid of it…for her. Korra then gave a little smile before kissing him on the lips. "Alright," she said softly.

"But not too long. We still need to go soon."

"Deal. Let's go."

"Ohhh, Mako's gonna be pissed at us for doing this, haha. Especially after all the begging I did to get him to come," Korra said. "Nah, I'm sure he'll be fine," Taka assured. "Trust me, Taka. I know Mako. He's gonna be annoyed," Korra reasserted. True enough, as soon as they broke the news to them when they went outside, he was quite upset. It went something like, "Seriously?! Come on, Korra. You said it yourself that we're on a schedule, right? Can't you guys do that some other time?" "I'm sorry, Mako. But we really need to do this now," Taka explained.

"Oh, come on, Mako. Let them do it," Asami said to him, "need I remind you that you were pretty much like that too when we started dating." "Oh really?" Korra asked enthusiastically. "Well…" the firebender spoke, scratching his head. "Yeah, Mako. Come on. Give 'em a break," Bolin grabbed his brother by the shoulders. "Urgh. Alright, fine." He smiled, "Have fun. But you guys better be ready to go when you finish, okay?" "Yes, officer. We understand," the energybender replied in a sarcastic manner, saluting him. "Well, sweetie. Let's go." "Great. I know the perfect place to go to," Korra said grabbing him by the arm and running off. And off they went to explore the city…well, not really. But off they went nevertheless. "We'll wait here in the apartment! See you when you guys get back!" Asami yelled to them. "Alright…!" Taka yelled back waving his hand, though quite faint as they were already pretty far.

Asami shook her head, laughing in happiness. "Well, let's go inside then," she said. "Yeah, about that… What are we supposed to do until they get back?" Mako inquired. Bolin then suddenly grabbed both of them real tight, "Ooh! Ooh! I know! We can play some Pai Sho!" "Ooh. You're on," the engineer agreed, putting on her game face. "Yeeeaahhh… You guys go do that. I'm gonna go take a nap," Mako said removing his brother's arm. "I agree with the man," Masaru added. They both headed inside to do just that.

"Woah, slow down. Where are we going?" Taka inquired as he was carried along like a ragdoll through the busy streets. "The only place in this city where you can get authentic Southern Water Tribe food, of course," the former Avatar replied. _You gotta be kidding me_ , he thought to himself as they continued to wade through the busy crowd. "Korra, slow down, please. We're trying to enjoy ourselves here. I wanna see the city," he told her. Eventually she came to a halt, a little tired as well. "Alright, alright. We'll slow down," she said. Though that wasn't what was bothering her. But she kept putting on a smile, trying to just forget about it. "It's this way," she said.

He enjoyed taking in everything as they walked—a city of this scale was completely different to his small town—while Korra was trying to, but found herself unable to let go of a particular thought. Especially cause the path they were taking led in front of a certain cemetery that she originally intended to avoid, but found herself unable to. Her heart started racing; she was sweating. Taka continued to marvel at the grand scale of Republic City. Even though he had been here before, it was a long time ago and it held a very bad memory. So this time, he wanted to make new, happier memories, especially ones with his sweetie. He turned around to a distressed Korra, looking quite pale and seemingly scared. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, worried. Though she didn't answer him. In fact, it was like he wasn't there. She released his arm and started walking towards the cemetery gate.

It was a quite small cemetery, square in shape, with a few big, flowering trees here and there. "Hey, Korra," he ran after and grabbed her hand, "is everything okay? What's in the cemetery?" "An old friend…" she spoke quite distraught. "You were right, Taka. It's time I visit her. I can't keep running away from this." He was just shocked by this news. "Ko—Korra, I… I'm sorry. I… I didn't know," he expressed his apology, unable to form the right words. He could see that she was already crying, head down. "It's okay, sweetie. It's not your fault," she said, "if anything…the fault is mine." She then pushed the gate open—a big gate made of steel bars—making a creaking sound and walked in, heading towards a specific direction.

The energybender just stood there in confusion, not knowing what to do or what to feel. All he knew was that he needed to be there for her, and he walked in as well to follow her. Eventually they reached a certain gravestone a little out of the way near the furthest edges of the cemetery. It wasn't very clear nor specific, quite hidden one might say, but that's how she wanted it to be. There was a light blue snow jacket next to it—her old snow jacket that she left behind. She was just standing there…staring at the grave. Taka approached from behind, quietly, not saying a word, but kept his distance. He tried to give her a little space.

She kneeled down to touch the small, wooden grave marker—she was obviously very upset. Watching from behind, a little bit away, he couldn't help but share in her pain. Even though he didn't know the person directly or personally, he knew what it feels like to lose someone close to you…someone you love. Though he had no idea how her situation was way more troubling than that. For the person lying inside the grave wasn't a person at all, but her pet polar bear dog, Naga. She was her best friend and companion for most of her life. After a few minutes, he couldn't stand by anymore. He approached her. "Korra? Sweetie?" he said grabbing her shoulder, "are you alright?" She didn't say anything for a moment, but eventually did. "Yeah… I'm fine. I'm so sorry, Naga," she started crying again, "please forgive me."

"I'm sorry for asking this, but who was she?"

"It's alright, don't be sorry. Naga was my pet bear dog."

"What happened to her?"

She held her breath for a moment, but eventually confronted her feelings…and the truth. "Mala Ta'ak… He didn't want me to have any…'companions' with me," she explained, "so I tried to leave her behind, but she wouldn't leave me. She was…loyal and… And a good friend." She burst into tears again. "Hey, it's okay," he quickly hugged her, "you don't have to go on if you don't want to, okay?" She wiped the tears away and braved the truth. "No. I have to get this out," she told him. "Mala Ta'ak knew that my relationship and my connection with her would cloud my thinking. He wanted me focused…without distraction," she continued, "so he… He had her killed."

"Ohhh… I'm so sorry, Korra. I know this probably won't be comforting, but he's paying for it now. Being trapped in his prison for eternity." She then released him and stood up.

"Right…" she spoke.

"What?"

"Mala Ta'ak didn't kill her. I said 'he had her killed'. But it was someone else who did it."

"Who was it?"

"I did," she spoke sternly, seemingly indifferent…without emotion. Taka couldn't believe what he heard, what she just said. "What?" he said with a horrified expression on his face. "To make me embrace my darker self—my 'true' self—and to seal my servitude to him…he made me kill her. He made me kill my best friend: my only companion when I was growing up in solitude away from everyone at the White Lotus compound," she finally revealed the truth to him with a heavy heart. Taka couldn't have been more shocked and horrified. He just kneeled there, staring at her with wide eyes, unable to comprehend what she just told him. She turned around to face him, "Mala Ta'ak knew how I felt about her! He knew my bond with her was stronger than any that I have ever forged!" she started screaming, breathing heavily, before shedding more tears. The energybender couldn't say anything…not a single word. But he stood back up and walked to her and hugged her. He knew that words could never express how he felt about it, but he could show her that he was there for her…that she wasn't alone.

She hugged him too, stopping the endless flow of tears from her eyes. "Thank you, Taka," she spoke softly, "thank you for being there for me." "Of course," he replied. "Not just for this. I meant, also when I was still under Mala Ta'ak's control. You didn't give up on me," she told him, "you refused to stop until you found another way." He looked at her and held her by the cheek, and laughed. "That's cause you're worth saving," he said, "you're an amazing person, Korra, and not because you were the Avatar. That wasn't what made you special. You're brave, funny, strong, beautiful, and a GOOD person. I know that. I felt it in you. That's why I didn't give up on you…even when you had seemingly given up on yourself. You're not this evil person that you think you are."

"But what if that's who I am, Taka? The Avatar was created by an evil spirit. The most evil spirit there is, in fact."

"I don't believe that for a second. So the Avatar was created by an evil spirit. So what? I don't believe we're defined by our past or our circumstances. We're not what happened to us, Korra. We're who we choose to become," he firmly stated to her. She took a moment to think about what he just said. "What happened wasn't your fault, okay? You had no control. Mala Ta'ak made you do it. So don't blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault. BELIEVE me. That will only lead you down a path of loneliness and darkness." "If you say so," she said. "Right. Now come on, let's get out of this horrible place. We'll go to that place you talked about. The one that has Southern Water Tribe food," he encouraged her. He just wanted to leave that depressing place behind and go someplace nice. She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, "Alright. Let's go." With that behind them, sort of, they exited the cemetery and headed for Narook's Seaweed Noodlery, the best place in Republic City to get Southern Water Tribe seaweed noodles.

They walked quite hastily at first, wanting to leave that awful place behind them and never look back, but slowed down after they got far enough. For some reason, the city seemed darker again. It also brought back unwanted memories in his mind—memories he'd rather not remember at the time. But he stayed strong…for her. "Sweetie? Listen… I know that kind of memory isn't something that's easily forgettable… Believe me. I know the feeling well," he spoke, honestly not knowing what words to say, "maybe not exactly, but I do understand." He kept feeling how you'd expect him to: like he kept messing up and only making things worse. Like all the words coming out of his mouth were wrong. "Let's just… Let's just try to…enjoy the rest of the day, okay?" he continued. Korra didn't say anything. In fact, she was seemingly quite indifferent; her face was flat with no expression. But then all of a sudden, she smiled out of nowhere and put her arms around his. "I'm glad you're here, sweetie," she said. He returned the smile. He didn't know why she was smiling all of a sudden, but it didn't matter. At least she was smiling again. "I'm glad you're here too," he replied. They continued walking until the restaurant…together.


	4. Episode 4: Assault On Ba Sing Se, Part 1

"There it is! Narook's Seaweed Noodlery," Korra said, "come on, girl." Woof! Her pet bear dog and best friend, Naga, ran beside her. But as soon as they got to the entrance, they were stopped. "Sorry, Avatar. I'm afraid your pet has to wait out here. Restaurant rules," the doorman told her. "Oh, alright," she said, "well, girl. Looks like you're gonna have to wait here, okay?" Naga looked sad and was whimpering a little. "Aww, it's gonna be alright, girl. I won't be long. I promise," the Avatar smiled to her before entering. "See you soon, Naga!" she yelled.

"Well, here we are," he said to her, "Narook's Seaweed Noodlery." Though Korra's mind was still back in the past, remembering that time she went there with…her. "You know, sweetie. No offense, but you know that Water Tribe food doesn't really agree with me," he carefully replied. "What?" she replied, returning back to the present. "Oh—yeah. Hahaha. It's alright. This is for me anyway," she said a little snobby. It was good, at least, to see her go back to her old self. But he knew it wouldn't be that easy. They entered the establishment.

The restaurant was full—as usual—filled with patrons from all over—mostly Water Tribe people though. As they entered, some of them began to stare at them, or rather, at her.

"Look, it's her"—

"Hey, isn't that the former Avatar?"—

"Yeah, what's her name?"—

The patrons started talking amongst themselves about our young waterbender. She quickly felt uneasy. Taka noticed it too. _Maybe going here wasn't the best idea_ , she thought. And they know that they don't need this after… Well, after what happened. But they were already there, might as well make the best of it; they sat down near the entrance. "Hey, don't mind them. Let's enjoy ourselves," he said to her. She nodded, not saying a word, giving a little smile; he sighed, feeling uneasy himself. "Soo, what do you usually eat here?" he asked. "What else? Their famous, and delicious, seaweed noodles," she answered.

He signaled to a waiter to order. "Hello. Welcome to Narook's Seaweed Noodlery, home of the best seaweed noodles. "How are things this evening, guys?" the waiter spoke, wearing traditional Water Tribe clothing. But he was actually the real deal, born and raised in the Southern Water Tribe. "Terrible," the former Avatar spoke with a rhetorical smile. "I'm sorry to hear that," the waiter replied. "And it doesn't look like things are getting better," Taka added. "Well, I can tell you that we don't feel that way. We Water Tribe people gotta stick together, right?" he spoke. Korra smiled, "Thank you. We'll just have two seaweed noodles."

"Alright, I'm on it. And Korra. Don't worry about these people, okay?"

"Yeah. Thank you," she nodded and smiled.

He then went on his way to make their order. "See? Everything's gonna be fine," the energybender spoke. "I hope you're right," she replied. _Noooo! Nooo! Wha-! I—I don—!_ Those screams were suddenly racing through her mind along with images of her face and hand, bloodied. She closed her eyes and tried to forget it. Or rather, tried let it go. She took a deep breath and exhaled, and made her hands into a fist and put them together; she continued to breathe in and out deeply. "What are you doing?" he asked her. "Shhh. I'm meditating," she said. "O-kay," he quietly said.

"Hahahaha," a very dark and quite sinister laugh. "You can't stop what's coming," suddenly a dark voice spoke.

The former Avatar was snapped out of her meditation, shocked.

"Whoa, what's up?"

She was breathing quite fast, but not too rapidly. "It's nothing," she replied. Obviously it wasn't nothing. "Korra, what's it gonna take for us to be honest with each other? If we wanna make this work, we have to trust each other," he said, "please don't shut me out. I wanna help you." There was a sincere look on his face, mixed with worry…and fear. Korra looked at him the same way. "I…I heard a…dark voice," she said.

"A dark voice? Who was it?"

"Not sure."

"Could it be the dark spirit those spirits were talking about?"

"Maybe. But we won't know until we actually go out there and find out."

As they talked, their noodles were finally finished. It certainly looked delicious, smoke rising up from the steaming hot soup as he carried it to them. "Here you go guys: two of Narook's special seaweed noodles. Enjoy," the waiter gave it to them with a big smile on his face. "Finally," Korra said licking her lips and rubbing her hands. Of course for Taka, he just stared at it with a weird look. _What is this?_ he asked in his mind. "Yum," Korra spoke before digging in. She wasted no time getting her chopsticks and quickly stuffing her mouth with noodles. Taka was holding the noodles up with his chopstick, looking at it. _Well, this is just noodles. Can't be that bad. I'm sure it can't be as bad as the soup,_ he thought. The former Avatar stopped for a moment, a string of noodle still going from the bowl to her mouth, to notice his discomfort; she bit and the string and swallowed the ones in her mouth. "Come on, sweetie. This is different. You might like this one," she said to him. "Okay, the last one was the soup. It had…many different…things in it that you didn't like. But this is just noodles, with some seaweed in it. Try it."

Taka tilted his head in agreement. _I guess she's right. It can't be that bad. Won't know until I try it anyway._ He stirred the soup around a little bit first, cause reasons, before lifting it back up and putting it in his mouth. His eyes widened a bit as he chewed. Korra noticed this and chuckled. "Taka, really it's okay. If you don't like it, then I'll eat it for you, okay?" she told him, excited about eating a second dish. He swallowed, "Are you kidding? This is delicious." He then continued to eat some more, stuffing his mouth in noodles just like her. She was quite surprised by that, but also happy; she smiled.

"Well, that's great, sweetie. I'm glad you like it." She WAS glad until she realized that she wouldn't get to eat his after all. She had a pouty expression then. "Wait," she said a little quiet. "What?" he noticed. "Hmmph. Nothing," she replied, still a little pouty. "Ohhhh, you wanted my noodles, didn't you?" he said a little teasing and with a smile. She got even poutier at that sentence. "Shut up," she spoke. "Hahaha. You know, you can just order another one," he told her.

"I know. Shut up."

This was good. They forgot about everything. Everything was just…there. Their thoughts and actions… "Oh, you should've given me this instead of that soup thing back at the South Pole," he spoke, "this is way better." She got rid of her pouty expression and just tried to remember what's important. "Haha. Well, I like all Water Tribe dishes. I grew up with them," she said, "well, okay, the Southern Water Tribe ones at least. I'm not really sure about the Northern Water Tribe ones. They have a few different dishes, I think." He chuckled.

Elsewhere, somewhere near the walled city of Ba Sing Se, a group of men and women were gathering for a very dangerous mission. The ones who called for and arrange the meeting were none other than, of course, Zaheer and his band of criminals. They looked quite comfortable as they mingled and talked amongst themselves—excited that they can do something quite…bad. They weren't all criminals, nor were they all benders—some were (earthbenders mostly)—but mostly they were just people, citizens, who had it rough and want some payback. Zaheer was about to give them that opportunity. He stepped up to a raised piece of rock and began his announcement.

"People, people! Alright, settle down. Now you know why I've called you all here for this meeting. And that's for one reason and one reason only. Why are we here?!" "To take back what's ours!" the crowd screamed in unison. "That's right! And tonight, we're going to give you that opportunity! Let us march and rid ourselves of these oppressors!" he gathered his army's solidarity, raising his hand as he did so.

"Yeah!"

"Now rest up, all of you! For tonight, we take Ba Sing Se!" he continued. The crowd gave a loud all-round applause and cheer.

"Oh my… Now that was good," Taka commented after slurping the last drip of the soup. Korra chuckled, "I'm glad you loved it."

"So you still gonna order another one?" he asked.

"Nah. It's alright," she answered, playing around with the chopsticks, spinning them around in the bowl.

"I gotta stop eating like that. Putting on a little weight," he stated, tapping his stomach. "You look fine," she replied with a chuckle. There was a silence for a few seconds. "So what do we do now?" he asked.

"What we came here to do. Get everyone and let's go."

"Alright. Are you sure you're ready for this? We can take another day if you want."

"No. I wanna to do this now," she said firmly. "Alright then. Let's pay and get out of here." Korra could feel something in the pit of her stomach, like before. But it was stronger this time. She still couldn't remember what was so important: it was at the back her mind, gnawing at her brain. Taka went to the counter to pay while she was still sitting down back at the table; he figured he should pay this time.

"Thank you, guys. Come back anytime," the girl at the counter said. "Thank you. It was very good," Taka replied, "see you."

 _Noooooo!—_ the screams raced back through her mind. She looked distraught; she just wanted those thoughts to end…to leave her alone… "Alright, sweetie. Let's go," Taka came. She just smiled and said, "Let's go." And off they went. She didn't really know how to go about it. Smiling is the best option, right? Isn't it? They exited and headed back to Mako's apartment.

Meanwhile, back in the apartment, Bolin was busy having a heated game of Pai Sho with Asami. Weellll…not really. See, he was losing…badly. "Oh, man. Come on, Asami. Cut me some slack," he was begging, looking defeated. "Nope, sorry. You're playing MY game now," she replied with her game face on. "Well, then…" the earthbender spoke auspiciously. He then made a move that he believed would win him the game—he closed his eyes in a moment of undeserved showing-off. The engineer made quick work of him, though, and won the game. "That's the game, Bolin," she said a little smug, though still looking sincere.

Bolin stared at the board with a completely shocked look and wide-eyes. "Bu—bu—but…" he mumbled. Though he then quickly changed back to cool and collected, pretending it was no big deal. "I mean, whatever," he said. "That's five games, Bolin. Another one?" Asami asked. He looked away, "Hmph," pretending to be tough, but was actually crying.

"No, I don't wanna play another game with you. Obviously, I'm too good for this."

"Guys! Can you please be quiet?! I'm trying to sleep," Mako suddenly spoke, a little shouting, trying to sleep on the couch. "Sweetie, why are you even sleeping there? Just go to your bed," Asami replied.

"BeCAUSE, when Korra gets back, I wanna be able to get up right away and go."

"Mako, I don't think they'll be coming back tonight. Just go to sleep in your bed."

He chuckled, "I'll be fine, sweetie. Just try to be a little more quiet, please." He turned to face the back of the couch and put the pillow on top of his head. "Alright, Asami. We're gonna play one more game. But only because I have good sportsmanship!" Bolin spoke while standing up. "Very well, sir," she replied all high-class, "I shall reset the board."

With another game about to be lost, Bolin was about to call it quits mid-game, until… Static! "All units, all units! We need all available officers to the… AAAARRRGGGHHH!" Mako suddenly woke up. "What was that?!" "Sounds like they're in trouble," Asami got up. Bolin took this opportunity to forget about the game and flip the board away as he stood up. "Right! Then we have to go help them! Let's go!" He quickly ran out the door without saying another word. Mako was a little confused—though he just woke up and didn't really care. He then asked her what just happened, but she dismissed it as Bolin being Bolin. Course, she knew that he was just a little sour after losing to her so many times—especially with him continually professing at being great at the game. "Whatever. Let's go," the firebender said. "But I thought you took the rest of the day off?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I've got nothing to do until Korra and Taka get back. Plus you heard the radio. It sounded like they're in trouble."

Suddenly, Bolin came back through the door, looking as clueless as ever.

"Uhh, where is this thing happening again?"

"Yeah, we don't even know where it is," Asami added. Suddenly there was an explosion that came from somewhere outside. BOOM! It was big enough to cause a tremor and shake the building a little; Bolin clumsily fell down through the door back into the room. "What was that?!" Mako asked holding on to the sofa. Both he and Asami quickly ran to the window to see explosion. Through the night sky, they could clearly see the flames that danced near the buildings and smoke that further blackened the sky; it was quite far, but was still visible. "Oh, man. Let's go!" the police officer shouted. He picked his brother up as he ran out. As they reached the streets outside, they bumped into Korra and Taka returning from their excursion. "Did you guys see that? What's going on?" Korra immediately asked. "I don't know. They're in trouble," he replied.

"Who's in trouble?"

"That's in the direction of the…" Asami continued.

"The police station!" the firebender interrupted before quickly leaving and running towards the screams in the distance. The rest didn't really know what to do, so they followed him to help. "Come on," Asami spoke. Mako arrived to a scene of chaos; fires were raging and the smoke was thick. The police station was in complete shambles—destroyed, one would say. The front area was decimated, debris were everywhere. A few policemen were dead while the rest were injured (a few bruises and cuts here and there).

"Oh dear. This looks very bad," Taka said.

"You think?" Korra replied sarcastically.

In the midst of the heat and the chaos, they could see members of the Triple Threat Triad harassing and attacking people. "Hahahahaha!" one laughed crazily. "Man, I'm so glad we got this job," another spoke. "Look, it's the Triple Threat!" Korra pointed out. "They're dead," Mako said before charging in; he threw some fires at them and got their attention. "I'm gonna try and put out some of the fires," Korra said. "Alright. I'm gonna go help Mako," Taka added. "Bolin, help me with this," Asami said.

The former Avatar quickly waterbended some water she brought with her and started putting out the fires around the front entrance and area, helping a few people along the way. "Go, get outta here!" she would yell out. The Triple Threat waterbender spun around bended some water towards Mako, knocking him back. "Argh!" he exclaimed. Taka suddenly came up from behind, jumping, and manifested some chains using his energybending and hit a few of them, separating them. The earthbender of the group retaliated by raising the ground in front of them, blocking Taka's attack. The energybender landed and thrust his palm to the rock and channeled an energy blast through it, knocking the earthbender away and shattering the rock.

After dousing out most of the fires, the smoke started to dissipate, though the ones already in the air took a while to clear. "Urgh. Wish I still have airbending, but oh well," she said. Suddenly, a few fireballs were thrown her way. Mako had already gotten back up and was engaged in a fight with the triad's firebender a bit away from her. Done with putting out most of the fires, she could now help Mako; she waterbended some water and pushed the firebender away, hitting a wall. "Thanks," Mako said, a bit out of breath. "No problem. But what are they doing? This is a bold move, even for the Triad," she inquired. "Yeah, it does seem strange. I got a bad feeling about this," he replied, worried. Suddenly, the ground erupted from beside them, moving towards them. "Look out!" Korra shouted before pushing herself and Mako out of the way. They successfully dodged it, but something strange happened. When Korra was pushing Mako out of the way, when she grabbed his arm, her hand glowed a…white-ish color. It was more like it was moving, like some sort of energy was flowing from Mako's arm to her hand. She noticed this and was perplexed. Her eye color also changed to light red.

Though she didn't have time to think further as another wave was coming. Suddenly, they both were pulled out of the way and landed quite a bit away. She then metalbended her wires and grabbed and slammed the earthbender away. For a moment, they had time to breathe. "Thanks, Chief," Mako said. "You're welcome, Mako," she replied pulling him up. Korra was still looking at her right hand, still confused as to what happened when she touched Mako. "Korra? Korra!" he yelled to her.

"Huh? What?"

"Come on, we still need round the rest of 'em up."

"What are they even doing here?! This is pretty bold for the Triad!" Lin pondered. "We don't know. But one thing's for sure, we gotta stop them from hurting more people or destroying more buildings," the firebender continued. "Well, most of them are already out," Korra added. "Right. You men! Round up the ones that are already down. Make sure they don't get up again," the chief ordered her men. "Yes, Chief!" they saluted.

"Look, over there! They're getting away!" she shouted, "not on my watch, you scoundrels." She used her wires to grab two of em and pulled them back. Korra tried to take another runner, but when she tried to waterbend, nothing happened and she slipped. "Woah!" she screamed. "What the…?" Everyone was confused; Mako managed to capture the runner though. "Korra, what happened?" Chief Beifong asked. "I don't know," she said as the chief helped her up, "I tried to waterbend, but…" She stopped mid-sentence. Bolin and Asami had also just returned from evacuating the civilians from the site.

"But what?"

"But nothing happened," she said worried. "What?! How could that be? Could you have…" she stopped, afraid of saying it. "No, I don't think so," Korra reassured, "though something strange did happened just now." "Uhhh, what's going on?" Bolin asked.

"What happened?"

"Hey. I got the last guy…I think," Mako came back carrying the unconscious woman on his shoulder, "I don't see any moorre…around…" He stopped shortly after, noticing the confusion between the two. "Uhh, what's going on?" he asked. "I don't know," Korra answered slowly, still looking at her hand. "Alright, guys. I caught a few trying to escape, but I got em," Taka returned. "What's going on?" Korra then looked away, for a moment staring into the far buildings, and then stepped and jumped forward, thrusting her hand. And to everyone's surprise and amazement, a bright stream of flame burst out of her hand, dancing through the air as the blaze took form before disappearing. Bolin had his mouth open wide, along with Asami. Mako, Taka, and the chief were also amazed. She firebended.

"But… But how?" Mako asked, confused. "I thought you can only waterbend now." The former Avatar herself was perplexed by this revelation. Though it wasn't what it seemed. For even though she could firebend now, she seemed to have lost the ability to waterbend. _Things are never what they appear to be, my young Avatar_ , she was reminded of something. "Maybe you got your Avatar powers back," Taka theorized, smiling. "No. Haha, I don't think so," she laughed, "I can firebend now, but I can't waterbend. Something happened when I touched your arm, Mako," she explained.

"What?"

"I think I got it," she suddenly spoke with enthusiasm. With confidence, she walked up to Lin and grabbed her arm, and she successfully replicated the process. Again, her hand glowed white and that "flow" she experienced before happened again, flowing from the Chief's arm to Korra's hand—maybe it WAS an energy flow or transfer. This time, her eyes turned light green. "Korra, what was that? What did you do to me?!" the Chief asked, bemused. "I don't know, hahaha," she said laughing. She then made a stance again and earthbended. Crack! She broke off and levitated a piece of the ground, and floated it around.

"You can switch between bendings…" the energybender surmised.

"Wait, what?" Mako said. "Guys! I suggest we focus on rounding up the Triad members first. Get em locked up in a cell," Lin told them, "and then we can worry about…whatever this thing is." And so they did.

As the remaining, unhurt police force rounded up all the members, Korra spotted another one on one of the roof of the buildings, perching near the edge, watching as if a show; she had a…smile, sinister. Korra quickly grabbed Mako and "absorbed" his firebending, and she flew up to meet this mysterious watcher; she wasn't dressed like a Triad member. "Who are you?" the former Avatar asked. "Hahaha," the person laughed, "I work for someone who's about to become a very powerful man. Darkness is coming, former Avatar. Are you ready for it? The spirits are afraid." "Wha… How do you know that?" she asked, surprised.

"Wouldn't you like to know…"

The stranger then firebended to her, hurtling fire and flame in her direction. Korra dodged most of the attacks and retaliated by redirecting one of the flames back towards the person. It hit her—a direct hit—and she fell down. "Hahahahaha," she continued to laugh, "you are every bit as powerful as he said."

"As who said?!" she asked angry.

"Why, Mala Ta'ak, of course."

Korra was completely shocked. How could she even know of Mala Ta'ak? She grabbed her in retaliation, really angry…and scared. "Talk! How do you know of him?!" she yelled. "Confused? You should be. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. And soon you and your friends will be dead. But first, Ba Sing Se is going down…" she spoke that last one quite softly, her final words before passing out. Korra set her back down. She felt burdened again; being reminded of that dark spirit weighed on her mind. And what was this about the walled city? She looked at her hands and felt the darkness in her just like before during her service—the darkness that she secretly still felt a little inside her; her mind flashed back to that moment for a brief moment, her hands bloodied from the blood of her fallen enemies. Her expression was that of tiredness…and despair—something she hasn't felt since those dark times.

 _Please. Please don't make me do this,_ she could hear herself speaking, crying profusely. It was raining and they were both in an alley away from everyone. Naga looked so innocent with her "smile" and tongue sticking out of her mouth. _No, I won't do it,_ she was still crying.

She snapped out of it and took the unconscious woman back to the police station, but not before taking her clothes. It was a spur of the moment thing; she wasn't in her right mind then. Wearing her usual water tribe clothing felt…strange for her then. It felt wrong—she just needed a change.

Stripped down to only a white sleeveless shirt and underpants, she was about to be taken down to the police, but Korra froze again for a moment. She had changed her mind and decided to just leave her lying there, unconscious. A few things were weighing on her mind then, she couldn't think straight. _This has something to do with what's going with the spirits, I know it,_ she thought. She then grabbed the clothes and headed back down; she avoided everyone and headed directly inside the now doused station.

"That's all of them, Chief. And the fires are all out. We're good to go," one of the men reported.

"Very good. Get these scoundrels out of my sight."

"Uh, where's Korra?" Asami asked. "I think I saw her enter the station. She was carrying something," one of the men suddenly answered.

"What?"

"I don't know."

"Should we…I don't know, talk to her?" the Chief asked, "this thing that's happening with her… It's always something with that girl." "I'll go to talk to her, ALONE," the engineer volunteered. Mako scratched his head, _this day keeps getting better and better_ , he thought sarcastically. "Well, we'll just stay here then," Bolin suddenly spoke, hugging his brother and the Chief; they both looked uncomfortable.

Asami ran inside the station to find Korra, though she couldn't. The area near the front was damaged pretty badly; scorch marks were present as were some debris. It was looking petty bad. "Hey, have you seen Korra?" she asked one of the officers. "Yeah, I think she's at the changing area," she replied.

"Okay, thanks."

She headed over immediately, but before she could enter, Korra stepped out wearing her new clothes. It seemed to be an engineer's jacket, light brown in color—the left one overlapped the right one and fastened with buttons at the end—and had a small belt-like strap around her waist. She also untied her hair, loose in all their messy glory, and a red scarf covered her neck just behind the jacket collar—it just about almost covered her mouth too, reaching just around her lower lip. The pants were dark gray in color and fit her fine. "Woah, what's with the new look?" Asami asked, quite impressed with her new attire. "I don't know. Just felt like a change," she answered, seemingly exhausted. "Well, we're all waiting for you. We're ready to go if you are," she told her. "Yeah, let's go," she spoke tired.

"So much for your day-off, Mako," the police chief joked. "Yeah, no kidding. This thing side-tracked us a little bit, but we're still going," he explained.

"Alright."

"So are you gonna tell us about this new thing that you can do?" Asami asked Korra as they walked outside. "I don't even know what it is," she replied.

"So you 'have' firebending now…right?"

"I guess."

"Maybe Taka was right. Maybe you can like switch between bendings," she tried to figure it out. "Maybe…"

Korra herself tried to figure out what it was. Could it have something to do with Mala Ta'ak? Probably not, but that mysterious woman mentioning him was enough to make her think. Anyway they went straight to the rest of the gang, ready to do what they originally planned. "Everyone ready?" she asked them. "Oh yes, finally. I'm getting bored here, let's get this adventure on the road," Bolin said. "Yeah, we're ready," Mako added, "sure you got everything under control here, Chief?" "Don't you worry about me. Now go, save the world or whatever it is you're gonna do," she spoke with a smile. With that, they bid their farewell, "Thank you, Lin. I wish you could come with us," the former Avatar told her. "Oh, you kids don't need me. Besides, I'm the police chief. I need to be here with my men and help sort this mess out," she replied with a hint of being glad that she didn't have to go. She WAS quite tired of these adventures with Korra, it felt nice to just handle police work in the city, but… "But if you guys need me, then I'll be there." They then parted ways and headed back to the harbor.

"So Korra, I didn't forget about this AWESOME NEW THING that you can do!" Bolin excitedly said, "so can you really like…change bendings?" "I don't know. I guess," she replied.

"So you can like, have all four bendings again!"

"No. I think if I…'switch'…to another bending, I lose the old one. So I can only hold one at a time, I think," she explained, "plus I still need to touch someone who has the bending I need." "Even so, still pretty cool that you can do that," Asami commented. "Yeah2, that's great and all, but where are we going again?" Mako asked. "Sorry, guys. I know what I told you, but we gotta make a quick stop. The city of Ba Sing Se's in trouble," Korra explained. Mako, as usual, quickly had an exasperated expression, rubbing his forehead. "Of course," he said with a tired voice. "What's going on in Ba Sing Se?" Bolin asked. "It's in trouble," she replied.

"How do you know that?" the engineer sounded worried.

"Just trust me…please."

"Alright, Korra. We trust you," Taka said.

"Yeah. I mean, you might be out of your mind, but…we're behind you. We'll follow you all the way," Masaru added.

"Thanks, guys. Well, I guess this is goodbye, Asami. Thanks for everything," the former Avatar bid her farewell. "Woah, woah, woah. You think I'm gonna leave you guys after all that's happened," she spoke, "and now with your bad feeling's getting worse, and that there's something wrong in Ba Sing Se. I'm coming with you guys."

"But what about 'running your company' and all that?"

"Yeeeahhh about that… I kinda, sorta already told them that…that I'm coming with you. So I kinda already made arrangements," she explained awkwardly. "Kinda?" Korra replied being a little snobby, smiling.

"Alright, you don't have to rub it in. Let's go."

"Btw, Korra, what's with the new clothes?" Mako asked. "What, I can't wear something different?" she spoke all of a sudden, a little angry… Wasn't really sure what she was feeling; she jumped up back on Lefty.

"Uhh, did I say something wrong?"

"No, you didn't," Asami told him before giving him a quick kiss and climbing up. "Alright, let's go!" Taka gave Masaru a quick slap on the stomach and said, "Come on, man." "And here we go again," he replied, smiling, almost rolling his eyes. They all eventually climbed up and, "Yip yip!" Korra yelled and set them off on their journey. "We're gonna need to make a quick stop at the Southern Air Temple first," she spoke.

Meanwhile, the attack on Ba Sing Se has already begun. The plan was for Zaheer and his team to stealthily infiltrate the Outer Wall first to disable the guards, and then they would open the gates. They easily accomplished that, overpowering the guards, and the gates sprang open allowing his army to pour in. They marched into the Agrarian Zone that separates the Inner and Outer Wall ever ready to storm the Earth Queen's palace. "It has begun," Zaheer spoke with a sinister smile.

After a few hours of flying, Team Korra could finally see the Patola Mountains, which houses the Southern Air Temple. No matter how many times they've seen it, it will always be a sight to behold. Mako and Asami were fast asleep and Bolin was sorta sleeping—half-asleep—while Taka and Masaru were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors; they've been playing for quite a while, bored. "Are we there yet?" Bolin tiredly asked. But Korra enjoyed the journey, and still enjoying it now. The feel of the wind on her face never gets old. Flying truly is a magnificent feat that only a few get to experience.

"Wake up, guys! We're here!" she shouted to them.

"Finally," the earthbender got up; he yawned, stretching his arms. "Wake up, guys. Mako, Asami, we're here."

"Huh! I'm up, I'm up!" Mako suddenly shouted. "Calm down, sweetie," Asami calmly said. Lefty gracefully flew down towards the temple grounds to land.

Korra immediately jumped off. "What are we doing here again?" Taka asked. She took a while before answering, "I don't know…"

"Of course you don't. Just following instincts, right?"

Up on the training grounds, Master Tenzin was busy training with young airbenders along with Abbot Shung when young airbender Xing Ying brought news of Korra and friends' return. "Master Tenzin, Korra's back!" she told him. "She is?" he asked, surprised, "alright, take a break, everyone." The students gave a polite bow before disbanding. Tenzin gave a tired look and covered his face, "If Korra's here, then that means…"

"Hahaha. What's wrong, Tenzin?" a woman's voice spoke from behind.

Kya, Tenzin's older sister and a waterbender, heard also about Korra's return and wished to see her as well. "Oh, nothing. It's just whenever Korra's here, it's when she wants something. And it's usually not a good thing," he gave an answer.

"Hmm, but I thought you said she changed?"

"She has. Huh, I suppose I just still see her as that hard-headed, stubborn girl I used to know," he explained, "but she's not that person anymore. I must admit, it's strange seeing her like this, more responsible…and serious."

"Well, she disappeared for over a year, what do you expect? She hasn't told you what happened?"

"No, not really."

"So she really gave up being the Avatar, huh?"

"Yeah. She told me it's for the best…" –"Hey, Tenzin!" Korra yelled from afar, coming up the steps— "And you know something, I believe her." The siblings gave each other a smile. "Hey, Korra. How are y— Urgh!" She jumped and gave him a hug. "It's nice seeing you again, Tenzin," she genuinely said. I mean, not that she doesn't like seeing him, but she treasures every moment now. "O-okay, Korra. It's nice seeing you too," the master airbender said. "Hi, Korra!" Xing Ying shouted.

"Hey, how are you? How's your airbending training going?"

"It's going really great. When I became an air acolyte, I never actually thought that I would be an actual airbender. But thanks to you and your friend, it's a dream come true," she told her excitedly. "Ah, it was no big deal. Just helping restore an entire nation," she said with a combination of sarcasm and joking and modesty. "But seriously, Korra. Thank you," Tenzin again expressed his gratitude, "I really wish dad was here to see this." "Yeah, he would've been really happy," Kya spoke. "Btw, Korra, what's with the new clothes?" Tenzin asked. "Oh, this thing. I don't know. I just thought I'd give it a try," she gave an answer, chuckling.

"O-kay. Hey, guys."

"It's good to see you again, Master Tenzin," Taka gave a bow, as did the rest.

"So what brings all you this way?"

"Well, I need to see Kya actually."

"Oh," the waterbender replied, confused, "why do you need to see me?" "Okay, this is gonna sound a little weird, but I just need to touch you," she awkwardly explained. Both siblings made an…awkward face immediately after she said that. "Uhmm, excuse me?" Kya spoke. "Apparently, Korra can switch bendings now," Asami happily explained. "Yeah, I have firebending now from Mako, but I prefer waterbending, so I need to touch a waterbender to get it back," Korra continued. "Yeah, yeah! It's sooo cool!" Bolin graciously added.

"Uhmm… I'm sorry?"

They were even more confused. "Just watch," she told them. She then grabbed her arm and the…"flow" happened again, this time even smoother than before…apparently; her eyes changed back to light blue, the blue swiping from right to left as it "washes" away the red. "Uhhh, what is that?" she said, mesmerized by the white glow. "Yeah, it's hard to explain. Basically I can like 'absorb' other bendings," she tried to explain. "Does that mean you can bend all four elements again?" Master Tenzin asked, hoping. "No. If I switch to another bending, I lose the old one," she continued.

"Oh…" the airbender sounded disappointed.

"Anyway, sorry to cut this short, guys, but we need your help."

Indeed, the walled city has fared better. "What are you talking about?" Kya inquired. "Ba Sing Se's in trouble," she told them, "I think there's an invasion happening."

"What?! Korra, are you sure?" Mako asked.

"Where did you get this information from?" Tenzin added.

"From someone… She had no reason to lie."

"Look, whatever! If there's even a chance that the city's under attack, we are going!" Mako firmly said. He seemed quite angry, or rather, stressed all of a sudden before walking away. Everyone was quite surprised by his sudden outburst. "Oooookaayyy," Korra spoke, confused. "I'll go talk to him," Asami said. "Sorry about my brother. It's just that… Our grandmother lives in Ba Sing Se…in the outer ring," Bolin explained, "if you're right, and this is an invasion, then…" "Say no more, Bolin. We're going now. Let's go," Korra said.

"Not without us," Tenzin stopped them, "if you think you're doing this alone…" "Tenzin's right. We're coming with you," Kya continued. "Us too," Abbot Shung spoke—some of the airbenders stood ready by his side and behind him.

"What? No, we can't ask you to do that," the former Avatar spoke.

"I thought airbender culture revolves around peacefulness and pacifism?" Taka asked, "won't doing this kinda…I don't know, negate that?" "Preservation of life is also the way of our people. And besides, you helped bring the Air Nomads back. The least we can do is try to help," he replied. "Uhhh, can I talk to you for a second?" Korra pointed to Tenzin, "in private."

"Sure."

They stepped aside a bit away to talk. "Tenzin, you're not actually considering this. I'm not gonna let them go against the culture of the Air Nomads," she told him. "Korra, calm down. No one is going against anyone's culture. They just wanna help," he calmed her down, "besides, if what you say is true, about this being an invasion, then we're going to need their help."

After a few seconds of thinking, she reluctantly agreed. They didn't have time to argue anyway. "Alright," she said rubbing her eyes, "is Bumi coming too?" Tenzin quickly covered Korra's mouth and signaled for her to shush. "No, I don't want him in on this," he looked worried. "Am I coming for what?" speak of the devil. Bumi suddenly appeared from behind, wondering what's he going for. Tenzin was surprised and looked completely shocked. "Oh, nothing. We're not doing anything, not going anywhere," he spoke quite fast and with a smile and expression that said he's hiding something. Bumi looked confused. "And they say I'm the crazy one," the retired commander said. "Right… I mean— I am going somewhere for a while with Korra and her friends, so can you stay here and watch the young ones?" he continued.

"Oh, where are you going, little brother?"

"Oh, nowhere. It's not important. Can you be in charge while we're gone or what?"

"Be in charge? Why you're looking at the former commander of the Second Division of the United Forces," he replied with a tone of pride, "so tell me, do YOU think I can be in charge?" "Honestly, not really. But I don't have any other choice, so you'll have to do," he answered with a straight look on his face.

"Well, what about Kya?"

"Look, can you do it or not?!" he got frustrated, a nerve was pulsating on his forehead.

"Okay, alright. You don't have to yell. I can take care of a few airbenders," he replied a little quiet. He looked away for a moment though, like he was worried.

Tenzin was rubbing his eyes, tired. "Oh, that man sometimes…" he spoke. "Relax, Tenzin. Come on," Korra spoke.

They both returned and the airbenders prepared themselves and their sky bisons and gliders, bringing with them their strength and wisdom; Korra, Masaru, Taka, and Bolin went back to rejoin Asami and Mako. She had already calmed the firebender down a little bit—they were at each other's embrace—but Mako was noticeably still worried. Understandable as it was his grandmother's life on the line. "Alright, we're ready to go," Korra said, worried also, "don't worry, Mako. We're gonna stop them."

"Alright, let's go," the firebender spoke.

There was no time to waste. For what they didn't know was that the attack had already begun long before, and that they would arrive to a city in fighting. Everyone hopped on top of their respective sky bisons and they all departed for the walled city.

Meanwhile, the assault had already reached the Lower Ring. Ghazan had used his lavabending to tear a huge hole through the Inner Wall; a battle ensued between the attackers and the guards of the Lower Ring. The citizens of this ring (mostly consisting of peasants, farmers, and the poor) could only hide inside their homes or whatever hole they could find. The few who were willing—those who were also tired of the Earth Queen's rule—joined the fray. Zaheer and his team were leading the charge themselves, devastating many buildings, streets, and homes; the guards were powerless against them. "Soon, this city will be free," the airbender spoke with determination.

Somewhere a bit away, but still close to the scene, a rather random group of people was hiding inside their house. They were wearing dark and light green clothing and ranged from young to old. On one of the shelves was a photo frame and it held a picture of a young man and a young woman with their two children. It was the house of Bolin and Mako's grandmother, and she wasn't as alone as they thought. Their whole family is packed up under one, quite small roof—though maybe not for long as the march of attackers were heading for them. "Oh dear," the old woman spoke. "Don't worry, grandma. We'll be fine," a young man spoke, hugging her.

Meanwhile, Korra and friends were on their way, the airbenders behind them, not knowing the dangers that await them and how badly the city needed them.


	5. Episode 5: Assault On Ba Sing Se, Part 2

Zaheer's army continued marching towards the Middle Ring, taking down any guard that got in their way. "Soon we will reach the Middle Ring and from there, the Earth Queen," Zaheer spoke. "Yeah, boss. Can't wait to knock down the queen's door and stick it to all those rich snobs," Ming Hua said.

"Oh dear. Looks like the city's in big trouble," grandmother spoke. "Grandma, they're destroying the city," Tu, her grandson, replied, "we need to go."

Just outside of Ba Sing Se, our would-be, intrepid heroes were making their approach to the walled city on their sky bisons; they could see the smoke from there. "We're too late," Mako spoke looking worried. "Don't say that. We don't know that yet," Korra said, sounding a little worried herself. They could see some of the guards unconscious at the top and the Outer Wall gate opened.

"We need to hurry!" Bolin said.

And hurry they did, flying past the Outer Wall straight towards the Inner Wall and the Lower Ring. They saw with their own eyes the chaos that was happening as the attackers fought what little guards there were. A few stalls and small houses and buildings were damaged or destroyed; they never actually intended to harm those in the Lower Ring—they were living under the shadow of the queen just as much as they were—but with any fighting, there will always be collateral damage. Most of them were planning to head to the Middle Ring right away though.

"Zaheer! We got company!" one of the soldiers screamed.

"What?!" he spoke out as he turned around, "it's her."

"Really? Huh, finally. Been looking forward to fight with the former Avatar," Ghazan said, "let's see how powerful she is now." "No! Let the soldiers handle them," Zaheer told them. "What? Why? She doesn't even have access to all four bendings anymore!" Ming Hua added.

"Exactly. The soldiers can handle them. We've still got a mission to do."

Clenching her teeth, she continued—along with the others—towards the Middle Ring.

Korra quickly jumped down into the fray and started beating on the attackers, trying to thin down their numbers using her waterbending. The airbenders followed forth, lending aid to her, as was their intention. Zaheer spent quite a while getting his army together first before attacking, though he was mostly merely using them as a distraction for any unwanted obstacle, e.g., Korra and her friends, that might get in their way.

While they were all busy fighting each other, the four criminals quietly made their way to the gates of the Middle Ring with most of the men. "Sweetie. Why did we let them go?" P'Li asked. "Their time will come. We have a different mission now," he replied, determined.

Asami tried to "steer" Lefty, but found herself in trouble before Xing Ying took over. They flew down, but not too close, and jumped down.

"Come on, we gotta get to her house! That's all that matters right now! Follow me," Mako shouted. "Alright, airbenders, I need you guys to stop as many as you can. We'll be right back," Korra told them; they nodded. "We'll stay here and try to thin out the herd," Taka told her.

"Alright. See you soon."

With Asami and Bolin, she followed Mako to his grandmother's house. The streets were messy with blood from the fallen and debris from the buildings and houses. "Mako! You sure you know where you're going?!" Korra shouted as they ran. "The place we're going is the last place I know they live in," he replied, "just hope they're still there," he said quietly. They took down anyone that got in their way; Mako was a little more aggressive, worried about his granmdmother, and Asami brought her Equalist electric glove to aid her.

Meanwhile, the fighting had reminded Korra of how…good it all was…how fun. It re-ignited a little of the bloodlust in her that remained…and the rage. She started to look a little darker—and the more she fought with the soldiers, the more she liked it. Thankfully, there weren't many to fight. Though she smiled her sinister smile. As I've told you before, she wasn't in her right mind at the time, and the traces of darkness left in her by Mala Ta'ak still remained. It just needed a spark.

Being reminded of…her…sure provided that spark. Even though she tried, she saw it in her mind almost the whole time: the blood in her hands, Naga's almost lifeless body, whimpering on the ground, and the pain that one, single moment caused her… An intense pain that she had never actually stopped feeling from that day on. And she would do almost anything to forget about it or stop feeling it…or even to take it all back.

Fighting was one way to do that. She could let out her anger. But was it worth it? It felt good. It felt really good. But everytime she gave in, she was also letting the darkness return, letting it in again.

Swish! Smack! Kick! She took down another soldier.

She knew it was bad, but sometimes she felt that it doesn't matter. Maybe turning dark again isn't such a bad thing…

Eventually, they arrived at the house. It was 2 stories high, tiled brown around the roof. "Let's hope they're still inside," Mako spoke. He kicked the door down and entered. "Grandma Yin!" he screamed. No one was there. They were all hiding above.

"What was that?" a faint voice was heard.

"They're upstairs," Korra deduced.

Mako quickly ran upstairs and as soon as he did, "Grandma!" he screamed, only to find a bunch of people held up together, hiding or trying to. He was surprised…definitely looked surprised. "Oh," he awkwardly said. "Why, who are you?" grandma Yin asked. "Mako?" a man stood up, softly brushing aside another, "is that you?" "Uhhh, yes," he replied, "do I know you?" Bolin suddenly appeared from behind along with Korra and Asami.

"Haha, it is you. And you must be Bolin," the man said, "I can't believe you guys are here." Both Bolin and Mako were confused to say the least. "Ah, right. We've never actually met before," he said scratching his head, "but you father sent us a picture of you guys once. You still look quite the same as you were back then."

"Wait, dad sent you a picture of us?" Bolin asked, even more confused.

"Yes he did. I'm Chow, San's brother. I guess that makes me your uncle," he explained. "Uhhh, sweetie? You didn't mention there'd be others here," Asami whispered. "I didn't know either," he whispered back. Boom! "What was that?" Chow shouted. "You guys just stay here and keep hidden. I don't think they're heading this way. But we gotta go take care of this. We'll be back. I promise," he told them. "Alright," Chow replied. They then headed back outside.

The air outside was swooshing and speeding around as airbenders tried to stop the soldiers, what few that remained. Tenzin himself, along with Xing Ying, Taka, and Masaru, was busy fighting a few earthbenders. They were in a tight spot when Korra came to save the day, albeit a little too much perhaps. "Korra!" Tenzin yelled to her. She snapped back, "Oh, sorry." She dropped the soldier she was holding—beating up more like—and rejoined the group. The airbenders could handle the situation well enough, enough for the group to go after the real threat.

"You guys go. We can handle things here," Tenzin said.

"Aaarrrggghhhh!" a soldier and her friend suddenly screamed. But thankfully, Xing Ying quickly stepped in as they were jumping towards them and soundbended them away, to everyone's surprise, releasing a burst of sound wave from her palm. It was quite loud, like a big gong had just been struck. Gong!

Everyone but Korra was surprised. "Wow, Xing Ying. I didn't know you could soundbend," Korra spoke. "Well, it's still very difficult. I can't believe it worked, haha!" she replied. Taka, Mako, Bolin, Masaru, and Asami had their mouths wide open in surprise—and confusion—but there was no time for that. They had to go catch up.

Meanwhile, Zaheer and his gang had already reached the Middle Ring and already begun wreaking havoc there with the men; from the Middle Ring onwards was where they intended to start the real fight.

Korra could see the smoke from the assault. "Guys. We need to go," she said, "some of them have already reached the Middle Ring."

"There's no doubt about it, they're heading for the Queen," Mako deduced. "Then we better go," Asami continued. "We're coming with you," Tenzin added. They then headed off, leaving Abbot Shung and the other airbenders to deal with the ones in the Lower Ring.

The soldiers were facing a bit more resistance in the Middle Ring due to them having more skilled Earthbenders. But it didn't matter for Zaheer. A few losses were insignificant next to making sure that the Earth Queen dies. "Nothing good comew without sacrifice," he would say. He let the soldiers handle the Middle Ring while he, P'Li, Ming Hua, and Ghazan make their way to the Upper Ring. They were more than capable than handling any obstacle that got in their way, so they went on just the four of them, as he originally intended.

"There it is. The gates to the Upper Ring," Zaheer spoke in awe…or maybe it was excitement, "Ghazan, if you don't mind…" He quickly used his earth and lavabending to demolish the gate and the adjacent wall. The Upper Ring is where the military officials of Ba Sing Se reside, and they were ready, standing steadfast against the band of criminals. Others would've been scared by those odds, but not these four. In fact, they were smiling. This was the fight they've been waiting for. "Finally," Ming Hua said.

When Korra and friends reached the Middle Ring, they saw that the people were fighting back. "Alright then. Let's lend them a hand," Taka said. But as he was about to bend, he couldn't. Instead he fell to the ground like shocked.

"Taka!" Korra shouted before running to his aid.

"Don't just stand there. Let's give 'em a hand," Asami said.

She used her glove and shocked a few soldiers trying to attack Korra and Taka while they were occupied. "Aaarrgghhh!" they screamed as they were electrocuted. Bolin and Mako also rushed to Korra's aid while Tenzin, Xing Ying, and the few airbenders they brought quickly flew up and headed deeper into the Ring and tried to help the citizens.

"Traitors!"—"This is our home!"—

"You're living under the shadow of a greedy queen! Don't you see that?!"—"Did you think we were just gonna stand-by while you destroy our homes?!" Those were some of the words thrown around by both parties. It was total chaos in Ba Sing Se.

"Sweetie? Are you okay?" Korra asked.

"Yeah. Just… I don't know what happened," he said, "I'm fine. I'm…fine." He tried to stand, but slipped a bit. Masaru came and helped him up along with Korra.

"Are you sure, buddy? It seemed pretty serious," his friend told him.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, we got a city to save. Let's go."

Though in his mind, he knew what it was. Ever since he used his energybending to grant the Air Acolytes airbending, he could infrequently feel his energy fluctuating; he would feel…weak at times. But of course, he didn't tell anyone about it, not even Korra…especially not Korra. She had been having it more than a little rough lately, so he thought it best not to tell her.

Anyway, it eventually passed and he felt…almost up to full strength again—though it still worried him. "Alright then. If everyone's okay, then let's go beat these guys," Mako said. Masaru wasted no time, "Aaarrrgghhhh!" he screamed as he charged to the fray with his trusty sword, which he's surprisingly quite good at using. He dodged quite a few rocks and earth thrown by a few of the earthbenders and retaliated with a few good swings. Clank! Slash! Asami followed behind and started helping herself, electrocuting whomever she could.

"Come on, guys. We're not gonna let them have all the fun, are we?" Bolin spoke before helping too. Fight earthbending with earthbending. The ground became the weapon as one by one the earth was torn off and thrown in all directions—the ground that was once the pavement and streets of the Middle Ring were nothing more than broken and damaged now. Mako too quickly engaged in a fierce combat with his brand of firebending.

"Sweetie, you sure you're okay?" Korra asked him.

"Yeah. I should be asking YOU that question," he noticed the change in her.

"I'm… I'm fine," she tried to shake it off, "we don't have time for this now. We'll talk about it later, I promise."

"Alright."

Just as they finished talking, three soldiers flew past them with a great rush of air. "Sorry, Korra!" Tenzin shouted. With no more time wasting, they jumped into the battle, full steam ahead. But Taka could hear something, a faint voice inside his head it seemed, yet it sounded familiar. A battle was ensuing, however, and he didn't have time to think about it. So he shook it off.

In the Upper Ring, the military seemed to be having quite the trouble with the four criminals; they clearly underestimated them. Ghazan quickly did work on the ground team with his lavabending. The ground was basically no more as lava poured from most surfaces, shattering the very earth they stood on, sending some to the sky. Ming Hua's special style of waterbending took care of the few that managed to evade it; she stabbed one or two of em through the chest by freezing and sharpening the edge of her water arms, killing them. "Hahaha," she laughed at the carnage.

P'Li took out the far away ones with her combustionbending, exploding the ground beneath them. Zaheer walked calmly, not wasting his energy…yet.

After all of the soldiers have fallen, either unconscious or dead, the three took a breather for a second before resuming towards the palace with their leader.

"Finally. Reckoning is at hand," Ming Hua spoke.

But suddenly, a dart was flying towards them at high speeds. The waterbender managed to block it just as it was about to hit her. "Take cover!" she warned the others. Soon after, a swarm of darts appeared seemingly out of nowhere and were all speeding towards them. Ghazan quickly earthbended the ground to cover, protecting them from the sting of the incoming projectiles.

"What was that?!" he shouted.

"Must be the Dai Li, Ba Sing Se's secret police," his leader explained.

"Alright, criminal scum! Come out with your hands up!" one of the Dai Li shouted.

P'Li stepped out of cover for a moment and blasted at a group, but they managed to evade. "Urgh! I can't get a clear shot from here, what with them attacking us too," she said.

Ghazan suddenly blasted the earth away and lavabended a huge amount of lava from the ground in front towards the Dai Li in an attempt to distract them while P'Li tried to get a shot in. She did, and managed to hurt a few while separating the rest; the lava managed to burn a few of them as well. But that was just the beginning of their problems as the former Avatar and her friends showed up to assist the Dai Li in stopping them.

"Oh, great," Ming Hua spoke, "boss, she's here."

Zaheer wasn't amused, "Hmm, this is not how imagined this night would go," he said almost quietly. "Alright, listen up! Ghazan, you and P'Li take care of these guys. Ming Hua, you and I'll take care of the former Avatar and her friends," he continued. "You got it, sweetie," the firebender replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek before heading off with the lavabender to deal with the Dai Li.

"Alright, Ming Hua. Let's take care of them," he said. And rush she went, without mercy—her attacks were fast and precise. Korra spent no time waiting and quickly jumped to meet her challenger—waterbender vs. waterbender. She diverted the water that was bended towards her and threw it back, though she dodged it as well. The former Avatar then took the water out of her pouches and turned them into a sorta ice blades on her hands like a glove and charged. She smashed the ground that Ming Hua was standing on as she quickly jumped away.

Meanwhile, Zaheer confronted Taka, Mako, and the others. "So you're the new big baddie we have to stop?" Taka said. "Big baddie?" Mako chuckled. "What?" he replied.

"IF you guys are done…" Zaheer interrupted them, "can we get on with me killing you already?"

"Yeah, yeah. Big talk from the villain," Bolin spoke, using his hand to mimic a mouth, "so what are you? Firebender, earthbender?"

"Who me? Of course not. Let me show you what I can do."

He then spun his arms and did some movements—air gushing around him as he does—before blasting a gust of air towards him. "Woooaaa!" the earthbender screamed as he flew back.

"It can't be," Taka said quietly, "you're an airbender?"

"Indeed I am. You seem surprised," the airbender spoke.

"What are you talking about?" Taka inquired.

"You really don't remember me, do you? The name's Zaheer, by the way. But I remember you. You're an energybender, aren't you? It's an honor to meet you again. I remember when you granted me and all those other Air Acolytes airbending all those months ago," he continued.

Taka was shocked to hear this. Did he really? Of course, it makes sense that he wouldn't remember all the faces of those whom he granted airbending, but if this person was really one of the Air Acolytes, then why was he doing all this?

"I can see from your face that you're trying to piece together this puzzle, but let me save you the trouble," the airbender spoke before lunging to him. Mako intercepted him and firebended, but Zaheer countered with his airbending, dissipating the fire, quickly followed by burst of air that swept the firebender away.

Taka was still a little taken aback by the revelation. Masaru jumped in with his trusty sword to protect his friend; he got a few swings in, but Zaheer managed to evade them all before blowing him away with a burst of air. "Aaarrgghhh!" he screamed.

Korra and Ming Hua were still engaged in a heated, or rather wet, battle together. Ming Hua's waterbending skills seem to be just a bit above the Korra's as she easily overpowered her more than once. She was very agile, and quite dexterous in using her tentacle-like water prosthesis. Though the former Avatar kept her cool throughout—that was unlike her—and calmly tried to find a way to beat her.

"You're a good waterbender, former Avatar. But not as good as me!" she shouted to Korra.

"We'll see about that," Korra spoke quietly.

The former Avatar jumped out of hiding and prepared to attack, waters raised, but the criminal was waiting for her. Before she could do anything, Ming Hua grabbed her using her water arms—which she froze to form a sort of hand on the tip—and encased her in water; unable to move anymore, her own water fell down as the criminal walked closer.

"Haha. Like I said, I'm better," she smirked.

"I have to admit, you are quite skillful," Korra replied.

"I have to say, former Avatar. You're not at all how I pictured you. What I've heard about you…you don't seem to be the hot-headed, easily angered person I've heard so much about," she inquired, "in fact, you're quite calm given your current predicament."

"Well you know what they say, people change," she was struggling.

"So I see. Is that what you did when you disappeared all those months ago?"

"That's none of your business," she said to her, slightly looking away.

Meanwhile, the energybender was engaged in combat with the airbender, Zaheer having the upper hand due to Taka's weakened and confused state. He bended an energy blast towards the criminal mastermind, but he easily avoided it.

"You're unfocused, boy!" he yelled to him, further reducing Taka's confidence, "to be a great bender, and a great person in general, one must have a focused mind."

Taka bended an energy shield around himself while he tried to regain his composure. Zaheer continued to airbend his way, pounding on his shield. _Come on, Taka. Pull yourself together_ , he thought as the shield cracked around him. It wasn't looking good for the fisherman. Then came Asami to the rescue. "Aaarrggghhhh!" the airbender screamed in pain as Asami electrocuted him from the back. That put him down for a little while.

Ghazan and P'Li were having problems of their own with the Dai Li. "Hmmm, these guys are more trouble than I thought," the earthbender said.

Inside the palace, the Earth Queen didn't seem to be bothered, nor was she worried for that matter, at all about the invasion.

"My queen, it is not safe anymore. I recommend that we evacuate immediately," one of her guards told her.

Still, she didn't seem to care, picking her ears and completely ignoring the guard's words.

"My queen? Did you not hear me?" the guard reiterated.

"Yeah, yeah. Ohhh, what else do you have for me?" she replied.

The guard was just baffled. Highly trained criminals were practically about to break down the palace doors, and she didn't care at all.

Outside, the Dai Li continued their attack on the two criminals, hurtling rock and earth towards them. P'Li jumped out and started firebending; Ghazan broke the barrier he made out of the ground and spun them around himself, hurtling them to the Dai Li one at a time as a distraction. It allowed P'Li to get a few blasts in using her combustionbending. Boom! Crack!

"Sir! That woman out there…looks like she's a combustionbender! I don't believe it," one of the Dai Li said.

"Time to end this," the earthbender spoke. He then lavabended, the biggest one yet, disabling most of the Dai Li agents, ending the fight as he said.

"And that one… He… He's a lavebender," one of the agents spoke out, afraid, "we can't beat them." "Pull yourself together! We need to regroup," their leader said.

Korra was still trapped in Ming Hua's water orb—escaping's pretty tough when you can't really move. "Okay, I was wrong. You're an excellent waterbender," Korra spoke, "and with no arms too. That takes skill, and it must've taken some practice to be able to waterbend like that."

"Huh. You have no idea," she replied.

"So I'm guessing you use your body to bend then. Since you can't perform complex motions with your arms," Korra continued speaking to her, but only as a distraction. You see, while Ming Hua was distracted by the former Avatar's talking, she failed to notice the water slowly moving below her, forming behind her.

"Yeah. It was pretty hard at first, but you know what they say: practice makes perfect," she explained.

"Well I guess that's one difference between you and me," Korra said, "even though it's not from your arms, you still need motion to waterbend. While _I_ don't!"

Just then, the water Korra formed behind the waterbender struck her from behind, and then again, knocking her out for a while. The water orb dissipated and Korra dropped to the ground. You see, in her time away, Korra had learned how to bend using only her mind, though it does take effort and, as she herself has stated, gives her a headache. It wasn't something that she would use all the time.

"But—but how?" the fallen waterbender asked.

"Oh, well, you see, I learned how to bend using only my mind. No complex motions necessary. It does give me a headache though," she explained. Ming Hua then fell back into unconsciousness. It was actually a trick that Mala Ta'ak himself had taught Korra.

Back near the palace, "Sir, where did they go?" the agent asked.

"I'm not sure."

P'Li then cleared her throat behind them. "Hello," she said before they both knocked them out. "Sweet dreams," Ghazan smirked.

As Korra was about to help her friends, Asami flew back in a gust of air past her. "Whoa!" she exclaimed.

"Enough of this! I have a schedule to keep," the now awakened Zaheer spoke. She blasted Korra away too and she hit a wall. Urgh!

He picked up the unconscious Ming Hua and headed for the palace. "P'Li, Ghazan! How are things on your end?" he asked them. "All good, boss," the earthbender reported, "now let's pay a visit to the queen."

"Good work."

"What happened to her?" P'Li asked.

"The former Avatar managed to beat her. It's inconsequential. We can now do what we came here for," their leader explained.

They managed to wake her up, though she wasn't feeling too prideful of what happened. "Wow, Ming Hua. Even when she's no longer the Avatar anymore, she still beat you," P'Li made fun of her a little. "Urgh. I had her! She just caught me by surprise. She may not be the Avatar anymore, but she does have new tricks up her sleeve," she tried to explain.

"Enough of this. We still have a mission to do. Now I suggest we stop bickering amongst ourselves and go accomplish that mission," the airbender stopped them

"Whatever you say, boss," the waterbender said.

She picked her water back up and reformed her water tendrils. "Alright, let's go."

They walked towards the palace door and broke it down.

"Knock, knock," Ming Hua said. The guard shrieked in fear.

"Who are you?! How dare you enter my palace without my permission!" the queen shouted to them. "My apologies, your highness," Zaheer said that last one with a hint of sarcasm, "but I'm afraid your rule is over."

Outside, Taka could finally snap himself out of his slump and stood up, though still a little wobbly. He looked at the destruction that the battle had caused before him: the houses that were destroyed and the people that were killed as collateral damage. The roads and pavement were destroyed, burned by lava, and the rooftops and steps and stairs broken, a multitude of debris scattered all around.

He started walking and headed towards the palace doors, but then noticed Korra unconscious near a half-destroyed house; he ran to her. "Sweetie, are you okay? Wake up," he said.

"Uhhhhhh," she moaned, "what happened?"

"I don't know. But I think it's about to get worse," he told her, "come on, we gotta get to the palace."

"Wait. Get Asami. She flew somewhere over there," she tried to point to her location, "where's Mako and Bolin, and Masaru?"

"I don't know. We don't have time to wait for them."

He picked her up and holstered her on his shoulder. Together they walked to where Asami's unconscious body lay. They both kneeled down and tried to wake her. Taka shook and shook her before she eventually woke up.

"Huh. What happened?" she mumbled.

Taka explained to her that there was no time to explain and that they needed to get to the palace, now. She struggled up, but could get back to her feet. Korra fought through the pain herself and walked on her own two feet again.

"Sweetie, you sure you're okay to walk?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Like you said, we don't have time. Come on."

The three of them quickly ran to the palace. Mako and Bolin's whereabouts were in the engineer's mind, but she quickly dismissed it. They've got other, more dire matters at hand. Taka himself was thinking of Masaru. When they reached the palace doors and went inside, the guard was already dead—killed by another who betrayed them—and Zaheer was already halfway into killing the queen. He trapped her head inside an air pocket or bubble and suffocated her.

"Noooo!" the former Avatar yelled.

But it was too late… The Earth Queen's body dropped to the ground, lifeless. "We're done here," the criminal airbender spoke.

"Noooooo!" she yelled again, rushing to fight them.

The traitorous guard quickly tried to stop her, earthbending the floor to block her. Taka and Asami both rushed in to help her.

"Finally. Payback time," the armless waterbender smirked.

"No. Our business is done here. We are leaving," her boss replied.

"But boss…"

"We're leaving," he reasserted himself, "you'll have another opportunity

The waterbender had a frustrated look and reluctantly complied. The criminals headed for the entrance, but were intercepted by Taka, who materialized a few chains around to try and trap them. They easily broke most of them and P'Li used her combustionbending to blow up the ground near Korra and the traitor. Boom! The explosion and smoke was enough distraction for them to slip by and exit, bringing the queen's body with them to show to the city.

The explosion knocked them all out, though Korra started to regain her senses before the others…along with the traitor. "Hahahaha," he laughed, "finally… That arrogant and annoying queen is gone."

It was at that point that the darkness in Korra returned fully, momentary though it may be; she was angry. "How could you do that?! Betray the one you were supposed to protect!" she yelled to him still lying on the floor. Obviously she wasn't thinking clearly. She didn't really know why. Maybe it was her action of betraying everyone she ever cared about by leaving them more than a year ago without so much as a "goodbye", essentially abandoning them. Or maybe it was her own actions of betraying her master, the dark spirit… Through the darkness, she felt his control again somewhat, and felt her betrayal to her master. A dark aura, faint it was, surrounded her.

She then slowly extended her hand towards the guard, the traitor, and started bloodbending. "Argh! Aaarrgghh!" he screamed in pain. Taka was just waking up from his unconsciousness, with a slight headache to boot. It was faint, he couldn't see what was going on until it was already too late; he could hear the screams, though.

"What's going on?" he mumbled.

It was at this point that Asami woke up too, also with a headache.

The bloodbending continued in the foreground as they tried to stand up. Korra was smiling a dark smile. "Now you die," she said quite calmly, "I forgot how much fun this is." The guard could only continue to scream in pain as his body and limbs were contorted and bent. Fully waking up, they both realized what their friend was doing to the poor man.

"Korra!" he yelled to her, "what are you doing?!"

Hearing his voice, she snapped out of it for a moment and turned around to see her sweetie and her friend looking very worried for her and distraught.

"Korra, stop! Please!" Asami spoke.

The darkness began to disappear and she realized what she was doing, staring at the poor man in pain. She quickly dropped the man down—he immediately fell unconscious, but alive—and became distraught. Taka and Asami quickly ran to their friend to help. Korra kneeled down and almost fell, but was caught by Taka.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here for you. It's okay, it's all over," he comforted her, hugging her. Asami didn't know what to think, standing there looking at them.

Meanwhile, outside in the city, the four criminals stood victorious at the high wall separating the Lower and Middle Ring, and presented the lifeless body of the queen to her people.

"Ba Sing Se! The tyranny of the Earth Queen is over! You are free!" Zaheer screamed as high as he could to be heard by the people.

Most of them cheered at this revelation, especially the ones living in the Lower Ring, though some mourned the loss of their queen. A few of them didn't really know why. Maybe after being under her rule for so long, it was the only thing they ever knew. The airbenders lowered their heads and closed their eyes, including Xing Ying, who was crying over the loss of a life.

Zaheer's screams continued and could be heard from the palace as Korra was still trying to regain her composure; she was staring blankly, crying. "Guys…uhmmm… What about the criminals?" Asami was hesitant to ask.

"I…I don't know," he spoke quietly.

She didn't really know either. The shouting woke up Bolin, Mako, and Masaru outside. They knew it was his voice, but didn't know where he was or where it was coming from. "Ghazan. You know what to do," Zaheer told him. He then dropped the body down to the Lower Ring before taking out his glider and flying away with P'Li on his back.

The airbenders were shocked to see Zaheer flying away on a glider.

"Oh, is he an airbender?"—"How could an airbender do such a thing?" were some of the questions being asked amongst them. Especially Tenzin who was not only shocked and distraught by this revelation, but saddened as well by the knowledge that it was one of his own people—and his father's people—who had done this terrible crime.

Ghazan earthbended a big part of the wall beneath him and, together with Ming Hua, used the piece to hover away. He then used his lavabending to destroy the wall separating the Lower and Middle Ring, uniting the citizens of Ba Sing Se, before flying away to join his leader.

"Korra? Sweetie? We do need to go," he said to her, brushing her hair.

"Yeah…I know," she was still staring, "it felt good, Taka…"

"Okay, let's just…get up."

Mako, Masaru, and Bolin then showed up at the palace doors, "Did you guys hear that?" Bolin asked, though quite quietly and wasn't heard. "What happened?" Mako asked. "It's a long story," Asami answered. She gave him a hug, "I'm glad you're okay, sweetie." He smiled.

"Uhh, I'm okay too," Bolin said scratching his head.

Asami gave him a big hug too—spun him around she did. Taka carried Korra past them outside. "You okay, buddy?" Masaru asked his friend. But he didn't answer…just continued walking. "Okay, seriously, what happened here?" Bolin asked.

"It's very complicated, guys," she sighed.

"Sweetie… Everyone sees the Avatar as a hero, a protector," Korra spoke, "but that's what Mala Ta'ak intended: for the Avatar to be seen as the hero—" They stopped just short of the stairs to enjoy the cool night's breeze.

"Hey, let's not think about that right now," he replied with a smile.

"But really I'm just a monster…" she continued.

"No. Don't say that. You are not a monster," he firmly said.

"You don't know, Taka… I've done some very bad things," she said quite distraught, crying a little, "if you know half the things I did for him…"

"I don't care about that. I told you, it doesn't matter who you were before. What matters is who you are now," he told her.

She didn't say another word…what would she say anyway? They were soon joined by Bolin, Asami, Masaru, and Mako afterwards. They too tried to enjoy the cool night's breeze after a long night's battle.

"So what about these criminals? They escaped," Mako asked, "especially that bald guy. He kinda creeps me out now."

"His name is Zaheer," Taka spoke, "that's what he told us before."

"And can we not forget the fact that he's an AIRBENDER?!" Bolin was being his usual self.

"Yeah…imagine that," Taka said looking serious, and a hint of guilt.

He continued to hold Korra in his arms while she tried to rest. They looked in awe at the now destroyed walls that used to separate the city. Ba Sing Se has fallen…


	6. Episode 6: Respite

Ba Sing Se has fallen…but the people haven't given up. In fact, despite losing their "beloved" queen and their city destroyed, the people have worked together to try and fix things—though the people in the Upper Ring have a bit of trouble cooperating with the lower rings; they rather not sully themselves by working with commoners and poor people.

Team Korra had found an abandoned house in the Middle Ring and took shelter in it. Taka put Korra down on one of the beds to rest while the others talk about what to do. Things were pretty scattered it seemed. They didn't really know what to do. The criminals are gone and the city's in ruins; the queen is dead—though that last part might not be a bad thing…according to some people.

"Korra, are you okay?" he asked a downed Korra.

She coughed a bit, "Yeah…I'm okay." She sounded very tired though. "I just wanna rest for a bit…"

"Alright," he replied.

Mako and Bolin had plans of their own to regroup with their family; they knew it was about time that they catch up. "What about you, Asami? Are you coming with us or…?" Bolin asked her.

"No, I think it's better if I stay here and help with Korra. Besides what you're gonna do is more of a family thing, so you guys go and have fun with them. Or try to, at least," she explained.

"What about Zaheer and his criminal friends? And what about the city?" Masaru asked.

"I don't know," Mako answered, tired too, "look, they're gone now, probably already far away from the city. We're all tired, so the best thing we can probably do right now is just rest. And the citizens are taking good care of the city, or what's left of it anyway."

"What are you guys gonna do?" he asked again.

"We're going back to our grandmother's house in the Lower Ring, see how they're doing. We owe them that much," he told him. "So I guess we'll see you soon," Bolin said.

After that, they went out and headed back to the Lower Ring, having said their goodbyes for now. Asami started rubbing her eyes, tired and just as confused of how it all went so bad. Masaru wasn't feeling too good either, heck they all weren't feeling very good that day. Taka was still by Korra's side, holding her hand; she was resting, sleeping. Even then she wasn't really having a good time, shaking about nervously.

"It's gonna be okay, sweetie," Taka quietly said to her.

Though she wasn't looking very good.

"She'll be fine, Taka. She's the strongest person I've ever met," Asami tried to comfort a distraught Taka. "I know…" he replied.

On their way to the house, Mako and Bolin saw again with their own eyes the destruction that had been done. It was monumental to say the least. But Mako was tired and didn't really wanna think about it. He just wanted to get back to the house and hang out with their family. Bolin was a little more cheerful, though not as much as usual. He was putting both his hands behind his head as he walked, trying to relax.

"I feel like we should be helping," he spoke.

"They're fine, Bolin. We need to see if grandma's okay, remember?" his brother replied.

"Yeah, I know. I just…can't believe this happened," he continued.

"Me neither…"

Back at the house, Taka and Asami were just talking, letting Korra rest. They were both tired as well, but they couldn't sleep… "You know when I first met Korra, I didn't know she was the Avatar," he said, "she didn't even tell me that she was…well, Korra. She seemed very troubled at the time."

"Why?" she asked.

"Uhmm… Not too sure…" he hesitated to answer.

She noticed that hesitation in his voice though, "Haha. It's okay if you don't wanna tell me."

"No, it's not that. It's just… It's very, very complicated," he sighed.

"Does it have something to do with why she's not the Avatar anymore?" she inquired.

He became even more hesitant. It wasn't his secret to share after all. But Asami seemed to understand. It was obvious that they've both been through a lot and just needed time.

"Maybe you should ask Korra yourself when she wakes up," the energybender told her, looking out the window. He was sounding unsure. Asami didn't say anything. Maybe she will ask her…maybe.

Korra was having bad times of her own, as her sleep wasn't quite as comforting as she had hoped. She was shaking, and whimpering almost; she was sweating a little. In fact, she was having something of a nightmare. Mala Ta'ak was in it, and talking to her it seemed.

"Korra… Korra…" he playfully called out to her, in a twisted way, "I'm still here. Hahahahaha."

In her dream, Korra woke up on the floor in a dark and dank place. "Hello?" she spoke. She stood up and rubbed her forearms, feeling cold. She couldn't really see anything; it might be the sewers…or some old dank building. She started walking forwards—she felt alone, those feelings from before. It was a little scary, but it was also nice in a way.

"Korra," the dark voice continued, "where are you going, Korra?"

"No, stop! You're not here! We stopped you!" she screamed.

"Hahahahaha," he laughed a dark laugh, "I will always be with you, my Avatar."

Back in the waking world, Bolin and Mako had just reached the small house in the Lower Ring. "Grandma Yin?" Mako spoke out. There was no one in the first floor. "They must still be upstairs," Bolin said peeking his head out of the corner. And so up they went to check.

"Grandma?" he said again.

"Mako. You've returned," she happily said, "and I see you and your brother have taken care of those pesky troublemakers."

"Well, we can't take all the credit," the firebender replied.

"Yeah, our friends helped a lot. And the airbenders too," Bolin added.

"But it didn't matter anyway. They did what they came here to do. They succeeded, killed the queen, and now the city's in shambles," Mako continued.

He was looking quite disappointed—and a little angry—but he was glad that, at least, their family was safe.

"It's alright. We'll find a way. We always do," Chow remarked optimistically. They were still gathered and bunched up together waiting for the sure sign that the attackers had left and it's safe to come out. Mako and Bolin tried to just spend time with their family and forget the terrible events that had just passed.

"I know. How about we whip up something to eat? It'll give us a chance to fill our stomachs while we catch up," Chow happily offered them.

"Food! That sounds great, Uncle Chow," Bolin spoke excitedly. Mako smiled and chuckled. At least everything's sorta back to normal…for now.

Taka and Asami were also fast asleep back at the house. Asami propped her leg up on the wooden table and lied back on a comfy chair while Taka slept propping his head on his right palm, his elbow on the same table. Masaru straight out slept on the far floor near the opposite wall a bit in front of the bed Korra was sleeping on. There was an apparently comfortable rug on the floor there, which was also apparently good for sleeping—he laid on his back arms and legs wide across the floor.

But Korra herself was not doing so good… In fact, she was running for her life (or so it seemed. She was just running frantically) along the dark, dank corridor; the shadow of Mala Ta'ak followed her all the way, calling to her.

"Just leave me alone!" she painfully shrieked out, crying.

"HAHAHAHAHA! You will _never_ be alone as long as I'm here, my Avatar!" the dark lord taunted her continuously, his voice dark and monstrous.

The corridor eventually led to a series of passages, or other corridors, leading in multiple directions—they all looked the same. Though the dark spirit seemed to have disappeared for a bit; it was quiet; the sound of water dripping only from broken or damaged pipes running along the half-broken brick walls (a few even had big holes on them) and dilapidated ceiling could be heard. The entire place looked dilapidated actually, and had a cold atmosphere; the floor itself was flooded with water that had accumulated from the dripping pipes. Korra started to shiver a little. Tired and not knowing in which direction she should go, she randomly picked one and continued on walking.

"You know what's coming, don't you?" Mala Ta'ak returned.

She quickly rushed forward again in surprise only to find a dead-end.

"Why aren't you stopping it? You know well what's coming," the dark spirit continued.

She waterbended fiercely towards the dark voice, though to no avail. "What are you talking about?" the former Avatar shouted. The water flew around continuously damaging walls and the pipes and the ceiling—water poured out, threatening to flood the place even more. "Oh no…" she exclaimed. There was a look of desperation and fear and worry on her face.

"Ohhh… Now look what you've done. You really don't remember, do you? My my, this is a surprise. And after you've tried soo hard to keep it a secret…from me. You really thought I didn't know, did you?"

"Remember what?! What are you talking about?" she shouted frantically, trying desperately to remember whilst shoving the water away, bending them.

"Now now, it wouldn't be fair if I just told you like that. Though I have to admit, it was your greatest work as the Avatar yet…so intricate and deliciously complicated… And very dangerous should it come undone," it seemed as if he was trying to warn her, "a word to the wise, Korra. Those men that you fought, they are on a dangerous and dark path—well, not as dark as me—but still one that will not end terribly well neither for them nor for the world. Hahaha. I am curious how this event will transpire."

The former Avatar stood with her back against the wall, continuously trying so hard to remember, but couldn't for the life of her (she was too tired to do so anyway). She slid down—splash—and hit the water.

"Goodbye, Korra. We'll talk again soon," he faded away.

"Wait!" she stood back up, "don't leave! Tell me what's comiinnng!"

She was mumbling these words in her sleep, rather unintelligibly though. The water threatened to soon drown her, engulfing her in their ever-flowing, and almost cruel, crystal blue marvel. Her head and hands had reached the ceiling as she gasped for dear life; she felt her last breath clinging to her lungs as if with one arm left, trying desperately not to let go. And in she went. The words turned to screams as she struggled in her bed, flailing her arms wildly and her legs; it kicked the blanket flying off straight to the floor.

Taka was woken by this and quickly tried to wake her up. "Korra! Wake up!" he shook her.

"Argh!" she suddenly screamed out, "no! Tell me what's coming!"

Asami fell down from her chair, "Argh!" Slam! Ouch.

"Korra. Korra, it's okay," Taka tried to calm her.

"I can't… I can't remember," she continued mumbling.

"What? What can't you remember?"

"Huh?! What happened?" Asami rubbed her head.

"Asami, come here," he told her.

She got up, stretching her arms and back, and walked (she seemed to have sprained something a little from her fall) to the bed. Korra was rocking back and forth and crossing her arms.

"What happened to her?" the engineer asked.

"I think she had a bad dream," he explained.

"That was no dream. It was a nightmare, but I don't think it was a dream," she said.

She then went on and explained what had transpired in her "dream", with Mala Ta'ak and the dangerous work the dark spirit mentioned she was apparently doing and successfully did during her time as the Avatar and, it seemed, under Mala Ta'ak's service.

Asami didn't understand what Korra was talking about since neither she nor the rest of Korra's team save for Taka and Masaru have been told about their previous adventures, but Taka told her they will explain soon enough…when the time is right, as they will all find out.

Though she still can't remember…and it bothered her very being. She felt like she knew what it was in the back of her mind, but just can't remember. And so she felt this…terrified feeling. All she knew then was that she had to stop Zaheer and his accomplices. But for now, she needed rest. "Well, you're not gonna stop anyone in this condition," as both Taka and Asami pointed out, "just get some more rest. When you're ready, we'll go." She agreed. After all, there's no point in going out on an adventure all tired and worn out, even _if_ the fate of the world seemed to hang in the balance. And with that out of the way, she laid her head back down on the comfy and fluffy pillow—Taka grabbed the blanket off the floor and laid it over her again—and could finally get the rest she had been yearning for.

"So what should we do now?" Asami whispered to Taka.

"I don't know, but I don't like it. Especially after what Korra just told us," he told her.

"Alright, Taka. Tell me what's going on," she inquired.

Taka then looked worried. Worried how she might react at the fact that Korra was once an agent of darkness…that the Avatar was actually an agent of darkness. But also worried 'cause it wasn't his secret to tell. "I can't, Asami," he finally gave her an answer, "I'm sorry. I don't think it's the right time, and besides, like I said…it's not my secret to tell."

The engineer sighed, she understood. "Alright, I respect that. So what now?" she rubbed her eyes. The energybender suggested that they take their own advice and get some more rest themselves. Neither of them would have been useful themselves had they not taken this rest as you will soon understand. But that's a story for a later time. For now, let us get back. Masaru got the right idea. The sword-wielder was still fast asleep on the quite comfy rug it seemed.

"Looks like your friend's got the right idea," also pointed out Asami, "so let's get back to it then."

And went back to rest they did on the wooden table I mentioned earlier. Though they discussed a little about Mako and Bolin.

"I hope they're doing better than we," the energybender spoke.

"I'm sure they are. Mako may seem very tough on the outside, but that's only 'cause he cares," remarked Asami as she returned to her previous sleeping position, placing her legs on top of the table, "he may not always obviously show it, but he does. And Bolin… Well, he's Bolin." Taka didn't reply a single word. He just sat there smiling. What a nice thought it must be…

Meanwhile, as they were just discussing, Bolin and Mako were busy eating and catching up with their family. Chow prepared a meal consisting of roast duck, noodle soup, and tofu—a quite big portion in order to feed everyone, though maybe not enough since they can't really afford a lot. He did as best as he could—for all of them.

"So, guys, what do you think of the meal?" he happily asked his nephews. Bolin—being Bolin—quickly answered first in an excited manner, "This is delicious, Uncle Chow! Sooo good!" as he himself pointed out, "thank you, thank you, thank you!" he continued.

"Yeah… This is very good. Thank you," Mako calmly added, like calmly saying what his quite manic little brother was trying to say.

And of course, no meal would be complete without some of their family's "world-famous" fruits. Chow and his family were fruit vendors and, apparently, had one of the best fruits in the city. Or at least that's what Mako and Bolin heard from all the talk. But, if anybody in the city knew how to make fruits, it was them. Tu had been asked by his father to prepare some for their guests.

"So Mako I heard—", "Bolin, is it true that you did—", "How does it feel to be friends with the Avatar?"

The questions then suddenly came bursting from all directions like how pipes that have just burst and pouring water all over. They were a little overwhelmed—couldn't eat another bite, or rather, didn't really have the chance to. "Uhhhh…" Mako raised a finger. It was a pretty exciting, and crowded, room to be in at the time. After all, most, if not all—except for Chow and Grandma Yin—of them hadn't met them before or even knew that they existed. As such, they got a little—maybe more than a little—carried away from all the excitement; Grandma Yin was enjoying a nice hot cup of tea, seemingly immune, or rather, oblivious, to all the shouting and happenings around her.

"Guys, guys. Settle down. Let them breathe for a second," Chow suddenly spoke, "calm down and let them finish their meal. I'm sure they'll be ready to answer your questions after."

The two brothers could only smile in an awkward fashion, and then continued eating (so did the rest). And again, there was silence in the house, minus the usual cough or slurping or clinking of the spoons and forks or any of the other tableware. "I wonder how Asami and the others are doing?" Mako whispered to Bolin.

Outside, the citizens tried to rebuild their home however they can, though most were just resting for the time being (It wasn't like the city's going anywhere anyway). A few, along with the airbenders, were making sure the attackers that remained were put in jail, or were at least watched after so that they wouldn't cause further disturbance, while the rest of them who weren't attending to that matter helped the citizens in any way they could; they would assist in clearing debris or played with the children (keeping them occupied to help forget the dreadful tragedy) or relocation/moving, etc.

Back at the Middle Ring house, as everyone was still sleeping soundly, a knock was heard on the door. Though this person had to knock several times before he was finally heard, knocking a bit loud towards the end. Asami woke up—falling off her chair again—("Dammit!" she exclaimed)—and stood back up to answer the bothering knock; she tried to straighten her back again, a faint bone-clicking, or cracking, sound was heard; she was definitely annoyed. It was none other than Tenzin who was knocking so diligently.

"Tenzin? Hey, what's going on?" Asami rubbed her eye. _What do you want?_ she thought in her head in a bit of an annoyed tone.

"Oh… Hey, Asami. Sorry, did I disturb you?" the airbender said.

"No, no. Not at all," she replied. Although she was really just thinking _Yes_ and of going back to sleep.

"Okay. May I come in?" he asked, to which she replied, "Of course, but try to keep it a little quiet. Korra's resting, she had it pretty bad." Tenzin understood, of course, and went in. He came to inform them on how the city was going after the attack and how the other airbenders were helping the people. Thanks to them, they handled it pretty well. He also came to see how Korra was doing, but from what he could tell from what Asami told him, it seemed she was going through…a lot.

"She woke up a few minutes ago, screaming and rambling about something," she informed him further, "she had a bad dream or something."

"Sounds serious," speculated Tenzin.

Asami then looked around to make sure that everyone else was still asleep before taking Tenzin to the side. "I think it might have something to do with what she experienced over six months ago. When she broke the Avatar Cycle," she whispered to him. The airbender asked her why she thought that and Asami went on to explain what had happened and her ramblings when she had woken up from her slumber.

"She mentioned something about a dark spirit," she continued on, "she called it "Mala Tak" or "Mala Ta'ak" or something like that."

"A spirit named Mala Ta'ak?" he repeated (whispering also), touching his chin, wondering, "well, I've never heard of either of those names before."

"And apparently, this spirit mentioned something about the people who attacked the city and some dangerous thing that Korra did when she was still the Avatar."

"Hmmm…" the airbender pondered this matter, "do you think it could be talking about Korra giving up the Avatar?"

"I don't think so," the engineer looked worried, "I could tell that it was something else… Something worse…"

They both then looked at the former Avatar ominously, lying in her bed, resting, occasionally rustling around and changing sides. But they've been through the thick of darkness before, and Korra has never let them down. Well, _almost_ never let them down (she would eventually get it in the end, haha). But especially now, even though she wasn't the Avatar anymore, she actually had matured and become stronger—or at least wiser—than she was in her Avatar days. Asami was sure that Korra would tell them when she was ready.

"So the city's doing better, I hope?" she tried to change the subject, looking for more positive things.

"Well, to be honest, a few of the citizens are thinking now that the queen's gone, why still follow all the rules and laws? What's to stop any one of them from taking over?" he grimly explained, scratching his head.

"Oh great. What should we do?" the engineer asked.

"I'm not sure. Right now we're just trying to control it. Make sure those kinds of thinking doesn't spread around, but…" he told her.

Asami suggested that maybe they should just evacuate the city. Though Tenzin pointed out that evacuating an entire city the size of Ba Sing Se is not easy. And even if they did, what would they use to do so and where were they gonna put them afterwards? It seemed to be one disaster after another. But Tenzin, as it turns out, was already thinking of something along those lines. He wanted to at least take the criminals and put them in prison and away from the people. He mentioned how he thought that most of the rebellious thinking originated from them.

"But even if it's just the criminals, there are still dozens of them. How are we gonna move them out?" he contemplated.

The engineer then smiled and said to him, "Leave that to me."

Meanwhile, Mako and Bolin had just finished eating their last piece of fruit, mostly apples, but a few mangos and bananas thrown in there. As they were finished, the family was still excited about asking the brothers about their lives and could finally do so since they've finished eating. Again, suddenly the silence was broken as questions were thrown everywhere by everyone. And again they were overwhelmed by them. Thankfully, Chow came to their rescue once again and told everyone to let them rest (they had just finished eating after all) and took them upstairs to get some peace and quiet.

"Thanks," the firebender said, "but you didn't really have to do that. We came here to get to know them, and we should try."

"Hahaha. Don't worry, you will," said their uncle.

Back outside, the airbenders were busy busy rounding up all the criminals like they planned while Asami spoke to someone on the radio.

"Alright, thanks," she said putting the radio back in its place. She walked outside and informed Tenzin what's what. "It should be here in a few hours," she said.

"A few hours?" Tenzin asked surprised, "you didn't tell me it would be that long."

"Well, I didn't say it would be short either," she replied.

He sighed, "What is IT anyway?"

"You'll see," she answered smiling. "Now, can I go back to sleep?"

At the house, Korra awoke from her sleep and sat up. She rubbed an eye and yawned before sitting quietly, thinking. She saw Masaru fast asleep in front of her, arms wide; she chuckled. It was nice. Taka was also still asleep at the table. She got up and walked to the window, still a little wobbly and stumbling. The sun had just risen to welcome the morning, its light bathing the entire city in its gentle bronze rays. Korra got a bit of that and walked outside to bathe herself in the full morning light. It felt good, refreshing.

"Watch out, Zaheer. 'Cause here we come," she spoke with confidence as the sun fully rose to the new morning.


	7. Episode 7: The Island

Taka and Masaru were still asleep in their respective position as Korra watches; she chuckled. She was pondering whether to wake them yet…or not. "Sleep tight, sweetie," she gave him a kiss on the cheek, whispering, "I'll just let you rest a little more." She then walked outside again to see the city.

As the sun rose to its highest above Ba Sing Se, they could start to see something approaching from the horizon. "What is that?"— "It looks like a… I actually don't know what it looks like." The guards standing ready atop the unbroken wall chattered. Of course they had no clue of what it was since they've probably never seen one before. But it was a Future Industries airship slowly approaching the destroyed city. It was mighty to behold like an iron giant, though sleek too. Its eight propellers fastly spinning, keeping it aloft and flying through the air. And from behind that one, another appeared quite the same, both en route to the city to help.

"Ms. Sato. We're approaching the city now. We should arrive in a few minutes," one of the operators informed her through the radio.

"Understood. See you guys when you land," she replied.

"Uhh, what's approaching the city?" Tenzin asked, bemused.

"A way to get the prisoners out safely," she continued to be vague.

The people outside were gasping and amazed at the huge airships coming in above them. They were murmuring and chatting amongst themselves. Asami and Tenzin walked out and he too was amazed…or at least surprised. "Tenzin, say hello to the Future Industries airship. Pretty cool, huh?" the engineer said to him.

"Well, it's certainly something," he replied amazed.

As they were about to land, the people were cleared away to make way for their landing. The front one landed first while the other stayed hovering above, awaiting their turn. The platform slid down and the door opened to reveal a familiar face. "Well well, Asami Sato. You are full of surprises," a familiar voice said before stepping out into the light. "Good to see you again, Tenzin. So where's Korra?" it was Police Chief Beifong who came a with her metalbending police force to help transfer the prisoners and ensure a safe passage.

"Lin? I mean, Chief Beifong. What are you doing here?" Tenzin asked.

"Asami asked me to come to help transfer the prisoners, make sure they don't try anything…surprising," she answered.

"Well, that's a good call, Asami. Good," he answered, seemingly coughing.

Asami was a bit confused, but after all was said and done, they started loading up the criminals onto the airship. As they were doing that, Korra saw the commotion and went back inside to wake up Taka and Masaru. Surprisingly, he was already awake and staring out the window.

"Hey," he said as she walked in.

He then gave her a warm hug, a long one. It was nice… She smiled. But they had to get going so she stopped it early and told him "we gotta go." For some reason it felt a little…strange. Anyway, they woke Masaru up—which was pretty difficult. It took them a few minutes to do so, and even when they did, it took him awhile to fully wake up—his hair was a little messed up, his eyes were closed, and he was moving his mouth in a chewing pattern.

They were almost finished loading up the attackers onto the airship, they were assigned to cells fitting three people each. Most of these were makeshift and always guarded by two members of the police, no less. It was almost full, just a few more and they were off to…wherever they were going with them. It was at the last moments when the last of the criminals were being loaded up that Korra, Taka, and Masaru showed up. She was particularly enthralled by the size of the airships. "Wooow," she spoke out.

"That's a pretty big airship," Masaru too said in amazement, "is that yours, Asami?"

"Well, not really. It belongs to Future Industries. The best and newest, top of the line," she replied with some pride.

Eventually, they finished loading up the last one and were ready to take off. "That's the last one, mam," one of the officers said. "Good," the chief replied. She told them to get ready while she said her "farewell for now" to Team Korra. She expressed that it was nice to see them all again—she greeted Korra as she had just arrived along with Masaru and Taka. The Police Chief had heard about what had happened here with her and inquired if she was alright.

"Yeah, it's fine, Chief," the former Avatar answered.

She was glad to hear, 'cause they still have to catch these criminals. And of course, once again, the burden fell to their shoulders. Team Korra GO!

"Well, Tenzin. See you again soon," she said to him with a sorta strict or maybe cold manner.

"Uhmm…o-kay," he spoke, a little confused.

"What was that about?" Asami asked.

"Nothing. It's uhm…nothing," all he replied. "Let's uh get going, shall we?"

The engineer had a confused look on her, but "alright". The airship then took off carrying all the attackers far away and to lock 'em up, they hoped. That was the signal for the other one to land so the gang could board and begin their new journey.

That airship was just hovering above them waiting to land; the staff inside were doing all sorts of trivial things to pass the time. One actually threw and bounced a ball off the wall over and over again. A few of them slept on their chairs—more resting, I suppose. And then two of them were playing Pai Sho while a few others watched. It was apparently an intense game.

Anyway, they started their descent and landed (I guess "landed" just means they're hovering just a few meters off the ground. They didn't actually land). The doors opened and the platform lowered so they could finally enter.

"Asami, mam. The ship is yours," one of the staff spoke and saluted.

"Thank you," the engineer replied.

She then boarded along with Tenzin, Bolin, and Mako, leaving the trio left to ponder.

"I guess we're going," Masaru spoke. He tapped Korra on the shoulder before joining the rest onboard. Unbeknownst to the others, Korra was noticing, or sensing, the commotion around her. Due to all that was happening yesterday, they failed to realize just who it was that came to their rescue. She turned around to look at them… They were all murmuring, talking amongst themselves. Some quietly, some quite loudly, though the combination of them all sure seemed loud.

"Isn't that the Avatar?"—"Don't you mean 'was'? I heard she's not the Avatar anymore."—"Yeah, that's Korra."—"Wow, she seems so different now."—"Did she change her look or something?"

They weren't all bad comments nor were they really hating on her. She did just save them after all, barring destroying parts of the town and letting the Queen get murdered. But all in all, everything was good. They were feeling mostly ambivalent more than anything. Unsure of what's happening. Taka grabbed her by the shoulder and asked if she was okay.

"Korra, are you alright?" he said.

"Yeah, I'm… ("Haha", she chuckled) I'm fine," she replied with a quiet smile. "Let's go."

She took his hand and they both walked up the platform towards the airship. The platform was raised and stowed, and the doors closed again. "Alright, take us away," Asami commanded. And flew they did, majestically. The people waved at them goodbye and bid them farewell (though they were still unsure about the former Avatar). It wasn't long before the city started to become smaller and smaller as they got farther away.

"Finally, we're in the air," Mako lazily said as he sat on a chair, putting his feet up on the table. (It was in the middle of the room or bridge used for planning and whatnot. A map was laid on it).

"So what's the plan, boss?" Asami asked Korra.

"Yeah, Korra. Where _are_ we going?" Tenzin joined in.

Korra looked confused 'cause she actually didn't know where to go or even what to do.

"Uhmm…well…" she mumbled, tapping her fingers together. She chuckled nervously.

"Yeeeaaaah, you don't know where we're going, do you?" Bolin said, looking as oblivious as ever.

"Weelll…" she spoke scratching her head.

They all lowered their heads and threw out a collective sigh; Tenzin was putting his hand over his face.

Meanwhile, Zaheer and his companions have just about reached their next destination: an unknown and remote island in the middle of the ocean. Though virtually unknown to the world, it was a pretty big island – though not that big – with a dense jungle; it wasn't as small as they thought. They have come here for he believes it was where the second key resided. They landed on the island's small beach, but the sand felt different, as Ghazan noticed (it seemed different too). He grabbed some and held it in his hand as it slipped, flowing gently out between his fingers. It was rougher somehow…coarser. Almost metallic, but…also a little different in that respect. Anyway, Zaheer held out some sort of amulet—it was glowing or shining depending on where he pointed it too. It appeared to be leading them to the key.

"This way," he told them. And they followed.

They continued to encounter the rough sand wherever they went, and streams and small rivers could be seen throughout the island. Actually, Ming Hua could swear that she saw the sand move and shift at times…as if it was alive. Whenever she would mention it though, the others just dismissed it as the wind shifting the sand (it _was_ pretty windy that day). Though unbeknownst to the group, the sand appeared to be taking shape behind them, growing out from the ground.

Going through the thick jungle was a bit of a challenge even for them. Not to mention the mosquitoes and other local insects. "Gah, I hate the jungle," remarked Ming Hua. As another mosquito landed on her face, she used her water arm to grab it, crushing it—or rather drowning it, I suppose. She smirked.

Zaheer once again took the amulet out his pocket and held it up. This time though it just started glowing randomly—like fritzing—in various directions. And they were already deep in the jungle. Things weren't looking very good and they were getting more than a little frustrated.

"Huh, great. Now the amulet's broken," Ghazan spoke.

"Enough of this," Zaheer said, "Ghazan, earthbend us up. I wanna see past this jungle."

"Alright, boss," he agreed.

But when he tried to, for some reason he couldn't. He tried to bend the ground, but couldn't; he was obviously struggling. The ground moved and shook a little, but he couldn't get it moving more.

"Urgh! What's wrong with this place?!" he exclaimed, frustrated.

"Calm down, Ghazan! What's wrong?" the airbender asked shouting.

"I don't know. I can't bend the ground. It's this sand… Something strange about it. Almost like it's…" but before he could finish his sentence, something interrupted him.

There was a quake and birds flew from the treetops to above the canopy.

"Come on. Let's just keep moving," P'Li advised, calm and collected. She seemed untroubled by all the happenings.

Ming Hua agreed, sort of. At least the canopy of trees kept them shielded from the sun's heat so they were cool. They continued their journey.

As they were tirelessly treading through the unforgiving jungle on an unforgiving island in the middle of nowhere, Team Korra were still at odds with each other regarding what they should do next (Korra herself still had no idea where to go next). Zaheer and his companions didn't really leave any clue or sign as to where they were going. Though something was still gnawing at the back of the former Avatar's mind; a feeling she couldn't really shake off. As everyone was bickering away, she rested on the table (on her arms), contemplating her thoughts…and what Mala Ta'ak said to her. She still couldn't remember…

The crew didn't really know what to do either. But they thought it best not to interfere with the boss' "discussions". All kinds of theories were being tossed and thrown around the room, but no one could decide or stick with anything. Everything seemed plausible and implausible at the same time, if that makes sense. But Korra remained silent among the talking, serious in her contemplations. She knew it was important.

"Something about a lock or a key or…" she thought to herself.

The loudness around did not disturb her as if the whole room was silent enough that you could hear a pin drop.

Anyway, as Team Korra was arguing away, the criminal team were still wandering around in the island's thick and dense jungle. In fact, they seemed to be lost. The amulet was at times reliable and at other times unreliable; Ghazan specifically was tired of getting slapped in the face by the leaves or branches and more so by the fact that he apparently wasn't able to bend anything. Not only did he feel tired, but he felt powerless too. It didn't really make him afraid though, just angry, if anything else.

"Urgh" we've been walking around this jungle for hours! Where is this damn key?!" the armless waterbender exclaimed.

"I _too_ have to admit, sweetie. This seems unfruitful _and_ wasting our time," P'Li concurred, "there's gotta be a better way to do this. I thought the amulet was supposed to lead us to it."

"That _is_ what we were told," their leader said, "but it seems our 'host' hasn't been too forthcoming with everything."

Then all of a sudden it shone brightly again, pointing the way, it seemed, to the location of the second key.

"Okay, what's wrong with it now?" Ming Hua asked, tired.

"Follow me," Zaheer only spoke.

Reluctantly, they all continued on and followed their leader. He has never let them down before. Well, not too many times that actually matter, I guess. The day was turning into evening as the light began to fade; the sun was about to dip below the horizon, but was still shining; though the wind picked up and there was a bigger breeze; the air felt colder. Thankfully for them, it also wasn't long before they finally reached an open area. Ghazan and Ming Hua breathed out a sigh of relief. Some sort of temple lied in the middle, a big and tall one.

Zaheer had a sinister smile on his face and, as he stepped forward to claim his prize, the part of the ground he stepped on depressed. There was a clicking sound. All of a sudden arrows came flying out of the trees heading in their general direction.

Ah yes, I suppose I should clarify. The island was riddled with traps as the four found out throughout their trekking through the forest. A similar trap with arrows was triggered also on their way to this area which they were now standing on. There were also pits rigged with sharp spears and even one filled with deadly snakes of some sorts. With their combined powers, though, they were able to escape these traps quite easily. All the more reason that they were tired and frustrated and just wanted to leave that dreadful place and never look back. But they still had a mission to do, so let's get back to it.

"Look out!" Ghazan screamed out as he tried to protect them. Though once again, as before, he failed to bend. None of them really knew why, it looked just like any other earth they've seen. Though the texture and smoothness were different as they found out when they first landed on these shores.

Ming Hua then stepped in and used her tendrils and bended the surrounding water from the streams to use as a shield. She hardened the water and turned them into ice. It blocked the arrows successfully.

"Man, they really don't want anyone getting their hands on this key, do they?" P'Li commented.

"The Avatar made sure that no one could access any of the keys. That's why the places are so remote and heavily guarded," Zaheer explained.

"Huh. Like the last one?" she continued in a mocking way.

Finally, the hail of arrows seemed to have stopped. They could take a breath for a moment. But it was short-lived as the ground then shook beneath them and was moving, forming a mound of sorts in front of them. It continued to get bigger and bigger as it grew what looked like arms, legs, and a face; it let out a monstrous roar that shook the trees. It began to walk towards them slowly—a hulking beast.

"I got this," P'Li said.

She then charged towards the beast made of earth and stone and combustionbended, but the beast bended the ground in front and blocked the explosion (whatever it was made of, the sand was pretty tough), though it was destroyed quite a deal. Only a small few remained and was dripping down. It dropped the shield and continued walking. The combustionbender was a little flummoxed by this.

"That sand wall should've been destroyed completely," she thought.

Annoyed, she charged at the sand beast, both hands engulfed in fire ready to strike. But unfortunately for her, she stepped on and triggered another trap. Two big stone tablets then appeared to her right and left and the symbols on it began to glow bright blue. What seemed to be a subtle energy wave then bombarded her emanating from both tablets. It appeared to have disoriented her; she couldn't move much, nor focus for that matter. Her vision started to get blurry and she fell to the ground hands and knees first. She began to shake and shiver before completely falling to the ground.

"P'Li!" Zaheer screamed for her.

He ran to assist her, but was forced aside by a stream of water. A person was standing on top of a branch on one of the trees to their left, and was bending the water from the streams. Her face was covered with a sort of thick veil and she was also dressed in a way that they've never seen before. That is, before they met the guardians of the first key (the air key) high on the mountains. She was dressed in quite the same way: black clothing (kinda like a ninja, I suppose) with no insignia or symbols of any kind—it was plain. Though she wasn't wearing any kind of helmet at the time, only the veil to cover her face. Her long hair stood out, flowing down to her shoulders.

"A waterbender? What's going on here?" Ghazan spoke.

"Then this beast thing must be the work of an earthbender. Or whatever this sand is made out of," Ming Hua surmised. "Don't worry. I'll take care of the waterbender. You and the boss try to take down this behemoth," she told him as she jumped up to face her opponent. And they both disappeared into a different part of the jungle.

"Try to take down the behemoth," he repeated in a sarcastic way, "and just how are we supposed to do that?"

"We hit it…hard," Zaheer stepped out of the trees.

"In case you haven't noticed, boss, my bending's not exactly working right now," the earthbender reminded him.

"Then do something! Anything!" he told him before jumping to attack the beast.

He airbended a big gust of wind towards it. The sand beast was dragged along backwards, but was otherwise fine. It didn't even flinch (not that it really had a face). It then bended some of its own sand on its right hand to Zaheer, solidifying it, forming a sort of spear or such sharp object. The airbender jumped high just in time to avoid it—a second later and he would've been impaled and that would've been a gruesome sight indeed. He hovered for a moment and slowly levitated down to one of the tree branches to recuperate. But it wasn't for long as he quickly went to attack it again from behind.

Meanwhile, Ghazan was at a loss at what to do. He couldn't seem to bend this earth or sand or whatever it was, so what should he do? He continued to stand and think for a few more seconds as powerlessness gripped him. Zaheer continued his assault on the hulking sand beast, barely slowing it down. As they were both occupied, Ghazan thought about trying to help P'Li instead and that's when it hit him: the tablets are, most likely, made of stone.

"Maybe I could bend that," he thought.

And so he tried, and succeeded; he stepped and thrusted both his hands to each of the tablets respectively, breaking them and raising them up. With determination and a scream, he launched both tablet pieces at the beast, successfully knocking it back and down—at least for a few seconds. It gave them time to take a breath. P'Li, now free from whatever magic it was, started to regain her senses, but was still panting quite a bit; her vision was still a little blurry too; she looked distraught and tired and eventually passed out.

At another part, Ming Hua was engaged in her own battle with the waterbender. They were both jumping from tree to tree and bending all the streams around them. Water was flung and shot to and from all directions. Eventually they both stopped and landed on trees opposite one another.

"You're a pretty good waterbender," Ming Hua said to her opponent.

But she continued to be silent and said nothing, only staring at the armless waterbender straight in the eye with conviction.

"What is wrong with you people?" she asked, puzzled and frustrated.

The guardian only closed her eyes and motioned her hands so that her right hand's index and middle finger were up and in front of her chest. Ming Hua smirked at what she was doing—letting her guard down during battle—and took the opportunity to strike her down. She molded her right water arm sharp and sent it straight towards her opponent. But as soon as it was about to hit, the guardian opened her eyes and struck Ming Hua's water arm directly, shattering it and it seemed to keep flowing through the stretched arm until it eventually reached the end.

"Arrgghh!" Ming Hua exclaimed.

She then felt numb on her right shoulder. And she couldn't bend the water to reform her right tendril either. "What did you do to me?" she shouted.

Still not talking or saying anything, she jumped up, dragging a big wave of water behind her, and headed towards Ming Hua. The armless waterbender looked scared as the wave hit her with force and she slammed back against the tree before falling down to the ground.

Back in front of the temple, the beast had already recovered from the earthbender's assault and was standing back up. Ghazan quickly bended the two pieces back and let it float around him.

"Boss. Whatever this tablet thing is, looks like it's strong enough to break through that thing's armor," he noticed the beast's sand skin chipped a little at the spot where he struck it.

"Then let's combine our assault. We kill this thing now. Keep striking it while I use my airbending," he ordered.

"Let's do it."

But before they could do anything, the sand beast expanded its arms—or rather, its sand—forwards and it spread across above them, zig zagging in multiple directions like branches; it blotted out a good portion of the sky from view.

"Move!" Zaheer shouted.

True enough, the sand created sharp protrusions that struck the ground and trees in multiple directions; the area became like a forest of blackish spikes. After a few seconds, it retracted them all back to see the result of the destruction it caused. The ground was littered with holes and cracks, and several trees were completely destroyed but there were no bodies. Though honestly, with all that destruction, nothing could be made certain. Their bodies could've been completely obliterated. It stood hulking, apprehensive, for a few seconds before cautiously and slowly stepping forward. It stopped. There was silence for a few seconds. The wind ominously voiced its warning as it whooshed amongst the leaves and picks up speed until suddenly one of the tablet piece launches out from the tree canopy at the beast with great speed. The tablet smashed directly into the beast's right shoulder and chipped away lots of the sand. It staggered and stumbled back. Then, both Zaheer and Ghazan leaped out from the trees and launched another big air blast and the other tablet, respectively. The air blast hit the already attached tablet and together, completely severed its arm to reveal blood flowing out. At this point, the beast was weak and the sand that made up its body and armor crumbled away. Then the other tablet hit it directly at the chest, completely breaking the sand and launching the bender inside backwards and out; the beast form crumbled away into nothing.

"Finally. I have had it with this island," Zaheer remarked.

They both walked towards the bender, a man it seemed, lying on the ground bleeding and weak, the now broken tablet pieces scattered around him. The airbender and earthbender stood beside him, looking down at the now feeble warrior. The sandbender was shivering and blood spurting out of his mouth.

"What are you?" asked a bewildered Ghazan.

But as he was already dying from his serious wounds, he could not speak nor say anything. Only looking at them for a few more seconds before expiring.

"What a waste," Zaheer commented.

With that finally out of the way, they took a moment to relax and take a breath. It was then that P'Li awoke and stepped out of the trees at the far back after being carried out of the way of the spike attack before. Her hand was over her face and she was still feeling dizzy and tired. She shaded her eyes and saw Ghazan and Zaheer at the distance and made her way to them.

"Ohhhh," she moaned as she reached them, "what happened?"

"You got zapped by some… I don't know, some kinda energy thing," Ghazan explained.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Zaheer was concerned.

"Yeah…I think so," she replied, "I'm just still a little dizzy. But I'll be okay. Where's Ming Hua?"

"She'll join us when she's done with the other guardian. Come on, let's claim our prize and finally get off of this accursed island," the airbender said.

"I gotta admit, the Avatar knows what she was doing when she hid these things," Ghazan remarked, impressed, as they were climbing up the quite steep steps, "these places are so remote and away. And these guardians she appointed… Incredible warriors."

"Yeah, they sure know how to pack a punch," P'Li added a bit embarrassed.

"He didn't even hit you. You got downed by a pair of magic tablets," the earthbender laughed trying to mock her.

She wanted so much to hit him, or punch him, or maybe even firebend at him, but she was still too tired, much to her dismay.

"Shut up, Ghazan," she only spoke.

Their leader told them to quit it as they were almost at the top.

"Both of you know very well what's at stake here," he added.

"Yeah, we do," the earthbender stopped them as they reached the top, sounded nervous, "which is why I gotta ask, are you still sure we wanna do this? Like you said, the Avatar went to a lot of trouble to keep all these keys hidden and protected. It was for a reason. In fact, they're so dangerous that these guardians or whatever are willing to die to keep them safe."

"We've faced loyalists before, Ghazan. People willing to risk their own lives for a goal they believe in isn't anything new to us. In fact, _we_ should know better about that," the leader replied.

"Yes, but we don't really know what the keys are truly for. Only what our 'host' told us. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this. This is a bad idea and I think we should stop while we still can," the earthbender asserted, "while we still have the chance."

"Ghazan's got a point, sweetie. I mean, what are we really accomplishing by doing this?" P'Li supported.

"Enough! We've wasted enough time and I am _not_ willing to spend another minute on this island! We are getting this key and we are going to get the next one and the next one until we get all of them. Now stop whining, both of you, and let's go," he shouted, "and as to what we're accomplishing, P'Li, you know very well the answer: the liberation of the world from the United Republic of Nations."

The sun was finally setting (only the top-half of it now was visible and was already sinking down) and the gentle bronze light bathed the temple in its light, the golden walls glaring and shining.

Elsewhere, unbeknownst to the airbender and the rest of the team, Ming Hua was actually doing poorly against the guardian. The armless waterbender was already down one arm with only her left to bend with. Things didn't look good for her. In fact, she was getting beaten pretty badly as she was struck with endless amounts of water with no rest or pause. Eventually she went down, defeated. But just as the guardian was about to strike the final blow, forming a water blade on her right hand, she turned her head suddenly. And then she leaped away and left just as as suddenly.

"Yeah, you better run," Ming Hua sighed and was relieved, more mumbling than speaking.

Back at the temple, the gang was just opening the temple doors and entering the chamber. It was quite dark with only a few small holes here and there, and a big one at the center top, for light to enter through. There was nothing inside except the the cage where the key is protected inside: it was at the center, raised by two or three steps, atop a pedestal. Around it were bigger pedestals, four of them on each corner with a square-shaped one on top, resting on the four. The key itself is surrounded by what seemed to be metal bars…but made of sand? Or something like it. They surmised that it's the same material as the sand outside across the island. Ghazan tried to bend it, but of course as before, it didn't work. Needless to say, he was annoyed.

"P'Li? Are you well enough to try burning it or exploding it?" Zaheer asked.

"I'll try," she replied uncertain.

She readied herself, but before she could try, the waterbender guardian arrived, falling through the hole on the ceiling, and entered the cage as it morphed open as she fell, but quickly closing itself back up after she entered. The gang all looked surprised. The guardian then walked up to the Earth Key and touched it, closing her eyes. And all of a sudden, the key glowed before sending some kind of energy wave away. It passed through them all harmlessly and continued on beyond. The guardian then stepped out of the cage (again it morphed open and closed) and stood before the three criminals. But instead of fighting, she tried to reason with them and finally spoke.

"Why are you doing this?" she spoke in a calm and solemn manner, "do you not understand what this key can do?"

"Oh we understand enough, lady. And while I agree with you on some level, we're not leaving here without it," Ghazan replied.

"Then it seems we will have to engage in combat. My partner died trying to protect this world from darkness, and I will do the same," she continued.

"That's good to know," said Zaheer, smiling auspiciously.

Little did the guardian know, Ming Hua was sneaking up behind her ready to strike. She sharpened her arm and sent it straight for her chest. But the guardian was ready. She jumped out of the way and turned around swiftly, turning Ming Hua's own water arm against herself by bending it to her in ice form, pinning her to the far wall. But then, BOOM! As the guardian turned back to face the gang, P'Li had used her combustionbending and it was a direct hit. She violently flew back hitting the sand cage—and even then it hardly budged—and landed on the steps. Her left arm was completely severed and blood splashed out all over the floor; her body too was destroyed along with her armor; she was dead before she hit the ground.

P'Li was shaking and immediately fainted after that blast. Ming Hua broke free of the ice and reformed it into a tendril. And the sand cage crumbled away leaving the key unprotected for anyone to grab, which was exactly what Zaheer did.

"Finally. The Earth Key. Now we can leave this place and never look back," he spoke.

"I'm with you, boss. I hate this island too. It sucks not being able to bend anything, feeling powerless. Let's go," Ghazan concurred.

The airbender grabbed the unconscious P'Li and they all headed out. Ghazan asked Ming Hua what happened to her right arm but she only replied with, "Don't ask." She was obviously frustrated and tired like all of them, and was thrilled to be able to finally leave. But Zaheer felt a little uncomfortable. "What was that energy wave that was sent out? What did the guardian do?" he thought to himself. But it seemed like he would have to find out the hard way.

Back at the airship, as Team Korra were all resting and sleeping, the energy wave passed by, passing through the ship (harmlessly). The pilot and two of his staffs noticed but didn't think much of it as they too were tired. But at one of the bedrooms, a sleeping Korra was awakened suddenly by it, her eyes glowed light blue for a second.

"No…" she gasped out.


	8. Episode 8: Secrets

"Nooo!" Korra screamed out at her bed.

Of course, this woke everyone up (except Masaru) and they came running straight for her door.

"Korra! What's wrong?" Asami shouted.

But the former Avatar couldn't answer. She only sat on the bed looking quite frantic and sweating a little. Asami approached her friend and sat down next to her.

"Korra?" she spoke.

It was then that Taka came running, fumbling a little, still half-asleep. He saw Korra in her state and quickly brushed past everyone blocking the door and sat next to her as well.

"What's wrong, Korra?" he asked her, grabbing her hand.

"She's been like this since we got here," the engineer told him.

"It's just…" Korra finally spoke, "nothing."

"Are you sure?" said Taka.

"It sure didn't sound like nothing, Korra," Tenzin added.

"I know. It was just… I had a bad dream," she explained, "about that one year I disappeared…"

Everyone immediately understood. They were sure that that period of her life is one she would do anything to forget. But little did they know that, right now at least, the fate of the world depended on her remembering. Though Asami was suspicious as was Tenzin.

"It's alright, everyone. Just go back to sleep," Taka told them.

Bolin was happy to hear that as he was tired followed by an elbow from his brother. In any case, they all went back to their respective rooms, tired, and hopped aboard the dreamland express once more. Though Tenzin was still suspicious, as was Asami, and she decided to remain with them both, wanting to get answers. As Korra laid her head down and went back to sleep, Asami pulled Taka aside. She inquired again, a bit more firmly this time but quietly, about what happened to Korra when she disappeared. But the energybender was still unsure. The situation DOES seem like it demanded an explanation… _Maybe if only Asami…_ he thought, _I could just tell her but not everybody else yet… at least for now_.

"Taka? Hello?" she said waving her hand in front of his face.

"Ask her yourself in the morning. If she still won't answer, then I'll tell you," he finally answered, whispering, "but for now, let's just keep this between us, okay?"

The engineer nodded and agreed. They both turned to Korra and saw that she was already asleep again. Taka suggested they do the same and try to deal with it in the morning. So they quietly closed her door and left. But unbeknownst to both of them, she wasn't actually sleeping. She only pretended so that they would leave and she can do her business. For at that moment, when the energy wave struck her, she knew… It came back to her: the keys and what they could do; she was frightened. The evil they would unleash. She sat back up. The memories started to return to her and she couldn't believe that she ever forgot something so important. So she got out of the bed, got dressed (still the new clothes), and headed out quietly. She didn't want to tell any of them, yet. She thought it best if no one knew about it. So the former Avatar sneaked out, but first made her way to Tenzin's room. She peeked through the door and saw he was already asleep, so she went in as quietly as she could, tip toeing. Eventually, she reached him, snoring of all things. She wasn't surprised.

"Sorry, Tenzin. But I just need something from you," she whispered.

She then gently touched his chest with her fingers and switched to airbending; her eyes shifted from cyan to gray blue.

"Thanks, Master," she thanked him quietly and bowed a little.

Tenzin then snored loudly and turned, alerting and surprising Korra. But thankfully, he didn't wake up. She sighed in relief and made her way back out, which relieved her. Anyway, she then made her way, quietly of course, outside to the front deck where Lefty was sleeping; she tested her newly acquired airbending by air jumping up the stairs. Korra woke him up, but the sky bison almost made a loud enough noise to wake the crew up and she quickly shushed him.

"Come on, boy. We gotta go, quietly. There's something we gotta do," she told him.

He hesitated at first, feeling tired and lazy, but eventually followed. The sky bison rose up from its slumber and yawned a big yawn. The former Avatar air jumped up and onto his back.

"Good boy," she said.

She grabbed the reins and set him off flying. "I hope I'm not too late," she worried.

As they sailed across the night sky, Korra meditated and tried to re-tune herself to the energies of the keys. They flew for quite a while, passing a few clouds along the way, in not a single direction for she still didn't know where to go. She stopped for a few seconds and breathed out; she smiled and rubbed and patted him on the head, "We're not going anywhere, are we boy?" she laughed before resuming meditation. It wasn't long after that she received a "ping": a gathering of three of the energies in one location. _But that's impossible,_ she thought, _the keys should be separated_. Worried, she immediately turned Lefty in the direction of the ping and headed that way. They spent quite a few minutes sailing through the clouds between clear open skies.

"Don't worry, boy. We're almost there…I think," she was following her instinct, what she remembers.

It wasn't long before the clouds cleared and revealed the volcano-island down below. She put up a relieved smile when she saw it and flew down towards it. But her smile vanished as fast as it came when she saw the destruction. It was too late. The cage had already been destroyed, melted away, and the key gone. The guardians were encased in a rock prison made from the ground, leaving only their head visible, and were unconscious but alive. Korra quickly jumped off of Lefty without hesitating and floated down using her airbending. She immediately tried to break them free, but then remembered that she didn't have earthbending at the moment.

"Hey, guys. Come on wake up!" she shouted to them.

She slapped them a bit as well, but it didn't work. They were out cold for a while. With that, she stepped back for a moment to think. She then stopped and smiled. The former Avatar realized that she has airbending again now, which means it was time to use that old trick she used to do. She closed her eyes and stood straight. She formed a fist with her right hand and pointed it to the guardians; she took a deep breath, in and out. The rock prison encasing them began to rumble a bit… And then boom! She unclenched her fist and the rocks blew outwards.

"Argh!" they both screamed, awakened.

The former Avatar gleefully chuckled, "I still got it."

The two protectors quickly brushed themselves off of the ground and were frantically spinning and turning, looking at all sides and ways.

"What happened?" the lavabender spoke.

"I don't know. I got here and you guys were trapped, unconscious, and the key was already gone," Korra explained.

"Crap! They took it!" concluded the waterbender.

"Who's 'they'?" inquired the former Avatar.

"There were three of them… They flew off… I think," they spoke out of breath.

And then they stopped for a moment to realize that the person they're talking to is Avatar Korra.

"Wait you're… Korra?" the waterbender asked.

The lavabender noticed too and they both dropped to the ground kneeling.

"So this what I trained you guys for, huh?" she asked them humorously.

"No, of course not, Avatar! One of them caught us off guard! But you trained us better than that! We apologize deeply!" the waterbender spoke suddenly.

"We will fix this, Avatar! We're sorry we disappointed you, and after you've given us such an important task!" the lavabender added.

Korra stopped them there. Although she was feeling a bit disappointed, she didn't want to express that. The former Avatar told them to stand back up and contact the water key guardians, and to hurry. They had no time.

"But, Avatar…" they were interrupted.

"No. They already have three of the four keys. We don't have time. Go contact the water station now and warn them of an imminent attack," she ordered them, "and let's go."

They then immediately did so without any more questions or hesitation. They too knew what was at stake here. As they did so, Korra climbed and scaled the rocks to reach the outer ring of the volcano that overlooked the ocean. There at the top, she found Lefty already comfortably asleep again. He yawned a big yawn as if to further show his sleepiness. She laughed and commented on it.

"We don't have time, boy. We have to hurry," she told him as she tried to get him up.

After a few minutes of waiting, the two guardians came running back.

"It's done, Avatar Korra, mam," the lavabender reported.

Korra chuckled at the fact that they continued to call her "Avatar" and told them to hop on.

"Should we call anyone else for backup?" the waterbender asked.

"No. I don't want any more people knowing about this. So far, the only people who know about this are me, the guardians, and these criminals, right?" she asked.

"That's correct, Avatar."

"Good. Then until the situation deems it necessary, I wanna keep it that way. Knowledge of the keys is dangerous should it fall into the wrong hands. Just look at the situation we're in now. So now hurry up and hop on. We have to get moving," she explained it to them.

And they all did and began their journey to the Southern Water Tribe. As they flew among the clouds again, Korra asked the guardians what happened with the criminals. And so they explained it to her, everything that happened.

As the guards were relaxing inside their station, Zaheer and his cronies showed up and announced their presence there. Why? Not quite sure, but a fight then ensued between the two groups. As before, the guardians, a female lava/earthbender and a male waterbender, were holding their own against them. The waterbender actually bended the surrounding ocean water up and flooded the area where they were in; the water touched the lava and it hissed as steam blew out. Zaheer, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua were all caught in the wave and were submerged. The guardian was about to throw them all back out into the ocean, but Ming-Hua quickly launched out of the water in a whirlpool and bended some of the water back. So the water split into two with both heading back to the ocean, one half carrying the guardians themselves. They held on to one of the posts of their station—which was remarkably strong being able to withstand the force of the water. Unfortunately for Ming-Hua, both her teammates were also flushed out with the water (P'Li was still resting on the shores due to what she experienced on the island). The guardians quickly recovered and the lavabender bended some of the lava from the pit towards Ming-Hua, but she blocked them with a water shield. Again they hissed as steam exploded out. But even with the shield, she felt the force.

"Urgh!" she exclaimed.

She fell down to the hard ground below. She was still a little weak from her battle with the island waterbender. Her right shoulder, although already capable of forming a tendril again, still felt sore. Taking the opportunity, this guardian waterbender managed to bend that water tendril away. Poor Ming-Hua was still too tired to try anything. The two guardians walked towards the downed waterbender, but luckily for her, her colleagues showed up to her aid and the airbender blew a huge gust of wind quickly towards the two guards, blowing them away. Ghazan followed up with a few rocks and stones here and there, hitting them from every side. The criminals seemed different somehow.

"They seemed desperate," as one of the guardians put it, "but also something…stranger about them. It made them stronger somehow."

Korra was immediately worried as she got enough description to know that they were the same people who attacked Ba Sing Se. And more importantly, she knew why they were stronger, and she didn't like it one bit. Anyway, the guards continued. Ghazan then bended one final huge rock while they were down and knocked them out. The earthbender then encased them in a rock prison and, they assume, the criminals broke the cage and got away with the key.

As they finished, Korra didn't say a word, not even a comment. She was too busy pondering the gravity of the situation. It meant that now the criminals have _three_ keys, and only one left to go.

"This is not good. Very not good," she spoke rubbing her chin.

"I know. We are very sorry, Avatar Korra," they apologized once more.

"I know. It's alright. But that means now they have three keys in their possession," she explained.

"Then the other guards…?" the lavabender feared the worst.

"I'm not too sure, but we know what we have to do now. We have to stop them from getting to the fourth and final key at all costs," she spoke firmly, "I don't need to remind you what could happen if they should possess all four."

The two guardians exchanged stares, worried, knowing full well the implications.

"So the water key is the only one left, right, Avatar?" the waterbender asked.

Korra chuckled once again at them still calling her "Avatar".

"Okay, guys. I need to tell you something first. I'm not the Avatar anymore. So you can stop calling me that from now on and just call me 'Korra', okay?" she finally revealed.

Needless to say, they were shocked and baffled by this revelation.

"That's impossible," the waterbender stated, "then who _is_ the Avatar?"

"No one. There _is_ no more Avatar," she explained.

The fire key guardians didn't know what to feel or say with this new information. Though they felt that Korra herself hasn't seemed changed much. At least they were still on the same side.

"Umm, just making sure I remember your names, Nadia and…Talon, right?" she asked them.

"That's correct, Avata— Uh...former Avat— Umm, Korra," the lavabender fumbled in her speech.

"So what's the plan, Korra?" inquired Talon.

"We stop them," she answered, determined.

Though Korra felt a bit ambivalent about keeping secrets, especially from her sweetie, Taka. But she knew if there were any exceptions, this would be the one. They could handle it… Or at least that's what she thought. It took them a bit while to get to the remote island just a few miles south of the Southern Water Tribe. The guardians there were preparing themselves for this imminent attack and hid the key further beneath sheets of ice and snow. They stayed inside their station, which was built into the mountain-type structure that was hiding the key beneath it, keeping warm and waited for Korra's arrival. Luckily for them, nothing interesting seemed to be happening so far. It _would_ be pretty hard for the criminals to navigate their way outside with a blizzard blowing, light though it was. The two guardians, a female waterbender (Malina) and a male firebender (Satoshi), sat inside their cozy and warm station, looking out through the window carved directly onto the side of the mountain; all the guardians wore pretty much the same "uniform", if you will: the black outfits similar to ninjas; their only difference is in the accessories and tools the respective guardians need according to their assigned area. For example, the water guardians wore thick-layered clothing and snow jackets as well to help them combat against the cold climate. The fire key guardians, living next to a volcano, wore light and breezy versions of it to keep them cool. Anyway, eventually they could see a silhouette of something flying in their direction.

"Do you think that's them?" the firebender asked.

"Them who?" the waterbender replied, "is it Avatar Korra or…?"

They decided to exit the station, carefully, to observe more closely. After a while, the silhouette morphed into the shape of a…bird? And another one followed behind.

"What is that?" the guards asked, confused.

Then all of a sudden, whoosh! An air stream was launched at them knocking them back against the mountain wall—they couldn't hear it over the sound of the blizzard. Zaheer put away his glider and dropped down to the white snow along with his team behind (riding a big rock bended by Ghazan—though P'Li was already awake and rested, she was still a little unready). As soon as they were all off, the earthbender used that very same rock as a weapon against the guardians, but they managed to evade it in time; it smashed into pieces, cracking the mountain wall a bit; some of the snow and ice chipped away as well. Malina immediately retaliated by sending a stream of ice spikes from the ground their way, and Satoshi created a firewall to one side so they couldn't escape the ice attack. This proved successful as, even though the others still managed to evade, Ghazan was grazed quite badly on his left shoulder.

"Aargghh!" he screamed.

And he fell down to the snow. Ming-Hua used the ice spikes to her advantage, breaking them and bended them towards the guardian. But with a thrust of her hand, Malina destroyed the spikes sent her way, though it provided enough distraction for Ming-Hua to use her tendril and strike. The armless waterbender pinned her to the mountain wall and trapped her in ice, restricting her movement. Meanwhile, Satoshi was engaged in a duel with P'Li while Zaheer searched for the entrance to the mountain. Satoshi was quite graceful in maneuvering his body to avoid P'Li's combustionbending (though in all fairness, she _was_ still tired, haven't fully recovered). He retaliated with a quick motion of his hands, trailing lightning, and lightningbended to the firebender. She immediately combustionbended and both bendings met in the middle creating a magnificent explosion that shook the air and the ground below; both benders were also pushed back from the force. It also shook the mountain a bit, enough for it to send boulders and a little avalanche falling from above. Zaheer gracefully avoided them and even managed to move a few using his airbending. As he was jumping and floating around, he noticed one of the camouflaged windows on one of the wall faces; he smirked. P'Li recovered from the blast, as did Satoshi, and was ready to fight again when suddenly, whoosh! She was hit with a gust of wind and flew to where Zaheer was.

"What?!" he exclaimed.

Unfortunately for him and his gang, Korra and the fire guardians arrived and jumped down into the fray.

"No!" Ming-Hua screamed.

"You're in trouble now. You and your criminal friends," Malina taunted her.

"Well, at least I can kill you," and with a sharpening of her tendril, she stabbed the guardian through forehead, killing her.

Ming-Hua released her and her cold body fell lifeless to the ground, blood flowing out from her head. "Noooo!" Korra screamed out.

The former Avatar immediately ran to her aid, but Ming-Hua quickly bended her right tendril towards her to which she repelled with her airbending. The water was broken and diverted away. It was then that Ghazan returned to the fight and started lavabending. The snow broke off as the ground cracked and lava rose from it like an awakened monster and moved for Korra. Thankfully, Nadia stepped in and bended the lava away to open space; it burned and hissed and melted the snow as it landed.

Zaheer watched the chaos ensue from a few meters away while holding a downed P'Li. He decided that the fighting could be a good enough distraction while P'Li heads for the key. He told her where to find the window and told her to find the entrance to the key chamber.

"Here's the amulet. I'll keep them busy with Ghazan and Ming-Hua. Now go," he said.

The combustionbender nodded and jumped up to the window, broke it, and entered. She landed on the table lying just in front of the window for radio and notes. The dining table (it sounds fancy, but wasn't really) was to the left wall. Both the table and the chairs were made of wood, as were all the other station dining tables, and sits three—one for a guest (meaning Korra should she decide to visit or check on them). She stepped off of the table and stood up. It was actually quite spacious. There was another table in the middle with a map laid out on top and a Pai Sho board tucked away at the side. A fireplace sat in the far wall with the chimney stretching all the way up the mountain, exiting on a wall quite a few meters up for the smoke; a fire was still going strong. An opening to the right led to the bedrooms, and another one in front of her led to a makeshift kitchen area. Next to the bedroom door was a makeshift stair leading down to the door to exit the station, hidden too, of course. She was a little perplexed at where to start. Nothing seemed odd or off. So she started groping the walls and floors, moving items around and even the tables and fireplace area, looking for a secret entrance.

Outside, the two groups were still busy battling each other. Fires were being hurled everywhere and ice and snow were launched and transformed; the battlefield changed. It was cracked at some areas and small patches of lava occupied a few spaces. Korra and Zaheer were at each other's neck, airbending everywhere. Ming-Hua was fighting with Talon, and Nadia and Satoshi were busy with Ghazan. Not to mention the blizzard was making it harder for them to see or hear anything.

Back inside, P'Li had flipped everything she could find, the tables, the beds, and moved everything around at least once and touched and groped every part of the wall and floor. Yet still nothing. But she kept her cool and continued searching. The only place left was the kitchen area and so she went to check there. It was a small square room, with the sink and soaps to the left and right; there were a few dirty dishes and utensils, even one or two clothes hanged on a wire stretching from side to side (they used this room as a makeshift laundry room too). These guardian stations had a source of electricity and they had light to light up the rooms, but they had lanterns and such as well for emergencies; this particular kitchen room had one light fixture at the ceiling. The combustionbender removed the clothes from the wire and dropped them to the floor so she could see better. And again she touched and groped everything she could find, every part of the wall and the floor, and the cupboards below the sinks. After all of that, she stopped for a moment. The amulet didn't seem to be working either.

"Hmmm, if I wanna hide a very powerful key, where would I put it?" she pondered.

She then got an idea and stared at the back wall. At first she wanted just to combustionbend, but she thought that would make too much noise. Instead, she walked over to the wall and touched it, felt it. She scratched it a bit and it started to peel off. It wasn't rock at all, it was ice. "I knew it. This is where it's radiating from," she deduced where the cold came from when most of the area was warm. And so, using her firebending, she touched the wall and heated it up. The ice melted away inch by inch until a big enough hole was created.

"Clever," she remarked.

She entered the room; big, circular…and empty. It was dark too with only one light fixture on the ceiling above. But there was nothing in there. But she knew it wouldn't be that easy. Then suddenly, the amulet started glowing again. She moved it around a bit and it glowed brighter whenever it was close to the ground.

"Underground, huh?" she said, "of course."

She lit up both of her hands in a blaze and, like a flamethrower, started melting the ground to make a path.

Back outside, both groups were resting behind an ice sheet wall created by their respective waterbenders to regroup. They were all tired. "Alright, listen. One of them already went inside to get the key. This whole battle is just a distraction," Korra explained to her guardians, "so here's what we're gonna do: I'm gonna go in and follow her, and stop her. I'm gonna create cover using the blizzard. You guys stay here and make sure they don't follow me. Try to keep them together and away from the mountain. Got it?"

"Yes, mam," they all answered.

She nodded and proceeded to use her airbending to increase the speed of the blizzard and gather enough flying snow to cover her run. With enough of a whiteout, she made a break for it (through the hidden entrance rather than the window). With her safely inside, Talon dropped the ice wall and shattered Ming-Hua's and Nadia then lavabended next to the criminals, away from the mountain, and they evaded accordingly.

Once inside, Korra hastily ran up the stairs and saw the trail of messiness that P'Li left behind. She saw the wall at the kitchen already melted and worse, the floor at the room beyond had also already been melted through. Without hesitation, she followed P'Li's trail.

P'Li herself had already broken through the thick sheets of ice and landed in a big chamber; she fell through after melting the last sheet of ice. But she maneuvered her way to safety as she fell down and landed on the floor of the room. Again, the room was dark with only two light fixtures at the right and left wall for illumination, though it was bright enough. It was a large square area with short, wide stairs from all sides leading down to a central area. But, as she saw, this room too was empty. Now she was beginning to get annoyed. She walked around the room to examine it, using her own firebending for extra illumination, but there was nothing. The firebender raised her lit right hand up high to light the ceiling, shooting a small flame upwards, but there were no signs or clues anywhere. And just as luck would have it, Korra arrived behind her, quietly though. The former Avatar levitated down slowly and hung by the wall just before the room to observe the situation. P'Li was still examining the area and Korra levitated down to the floor. She took no chance and quickly air blasted her to the side. Smack! The combustionbender slammed into a wall.

"End of the line, firebender," Korra announced her presence.

She recovered and immediately shot two fireballs at Korra. The former Avatar bended to deflect and dissipate the flames and launch herself to P'Li. The combustionbender evaded by jumping, but Korra stopped her mid-air using her airbending. She then smacked P'Li around to the walls and finally to the floor at the central area. Korra air-jumped to the downed combustionbender, landing just a few feet away out of caution, "Give up yet?" she asked and smiled.

P'Li turned to look at her and spoke, "I don't think so."

She combustionbended to Korra, but she quickly air blasted towards it to deflect it away; they both connected in the middle and exploded. Boom! Still, the force was enough to knock Korra back. The explosion caused the floor in the central area to crack and break, and the combustionbender fell through along with it; the area beneath it was already hollow and she fell fast. She flipped herself to fall face first, arms and legs wide open, and could see the bottom coming fast and readied herself. Just before she hit the floor, she firebended from her hands like rockets to slow her descent and landed down safely. As with the previous ones, the room was all ice with snow-capped floors, big area, and was cold. This time though, the room was lit only with a few lanterns and several torches were hung around the walls, and only a few were lit providing more illumination, while the rest weren't. The patterns on the ice were something like a mosaic, zig zagging and breaking. The firebender lit up the rest of the torches to make the room brighter to see and there it was lying a few meters in front of her: a huge cube-shaped sbox made of the same ice. She deduced that it must be where the key is kept.

"Finally," she was tired of searching.

She walked forward to approach it. As she got close enough, she began melting the ice, it took a while though as the ice was dense and thick. After a few seconds, she hadn't even melted most of it yet. Frustrated and tired, she nevertheless continued. After a few more minutes, she finally succeeded in melting through the thick ice. The firebender propped up her hands against her knees to rest for a bit. But as luck wasn't on her side that day, she looked up to find a metallic box _inside_ of the ice box. She was angry, needless to say, and screamed out. She firebended a few flames to it, with little effect, before combustionbending.

"Argh!" she exclaimed.

It connected and exploded; she was knocked back by the force, but the box itself wasn't too damaged—though the ice on that side completely shattered. She made a comment on why she didn't just combustionbended before to break the ice, instead of trying to melt it with her firebending, and rebuked herself. She approached the metal box and touched it before punching it. Yep, definitely solid metal—though it was bent and warped from the combustionbending. P'Li figured that a few more hits from her combustion should do the trick, but she was tired.

"No. Can't give up now," she spoke, "this is the last one. And then, the destruction of the United Republic."

Determined, she jumped back a few feet and stood firmly; and combustionbended. Boom! This time the whole room shook a little and the floor beneath it cracked. But there was no time for that and she did it again. Boom! The metal was finally weakening and breaking. She continued one or two more times to finish the job.

Back at the previous chamber, the shaking was also felt slightly too. This woke an unconscious Korra lying near the wall (after having been knocked out from the blast when they were fighting). "What?" she mumbled. Still a little woozy, she picked herself up slowly, leaning against the wall with one arm. She shook her head to wake up, hearing a noise a few seconds after; a light shined from the hole made by the explosion. And all of a sudden, P'Li came shooting out of the hole and landed a few feet next to it, holding the fourth and final key in her hand: the water key.

"Hello, Avatar. Whoops, sorry. It's _former_ Avatar now, isn't it?" the firebender taunted her.

Korra clenched her teeth a little, but was still feeling a little woozy. P'Li waved goodbye to her and rocketed herself towards the hole she made in the ceiling. But Korra, forcing herself to wake up, quickly airbended and launched to the escaping firebender. She slammed into her mid-air and they both hit the wall and fell back down. During that, Korra (whether accidentally or purposefully) absorbed P'Li's firebending/combustionbending.

"Aaarrrggghhh!" she screamed as it happened and rolled away in pain, holding her head.

The firebender saw what had happened (with the bright light and flowing energy) and was bemused. _What was that?_ she thought. But she thought little of it quickly as she wanted to take advantage of the former Avatar distracted by her sudden pain. She quickly rocketed up again into the hole to escape with the key. As for Korra, she was still hurting and holding her head, but eventually a third eye tattoo similar to the one P'Li has manifested itself on her forehead. It was then that the pain stopped and she regained her composure, though still panting a bit. She sat up immediately and was bemused herself. She touched her forehead, but it hurt and quickly moved her hand away; it had a sort of burning sensation as she would put it; her eye color turned amber. Korra didn't really understand what just happened, but she figured she must've absorbed P'Li's firebending and, without more pondering, immediately rocketed herself up into the hole as well to stop her.

Back outside, the two groups had been fighting for the duration and were both beaten and tired. Ming-Hua was down and unconscious, but she managed to kill Talon beforehand. Zaheer was holding the unconscious waterbender while Ghazan was keeping watch. Same for the guardians with Nadia hugging Talon's body, crying, with Satoshi keeping watch. That said, both groups were exhausted from the battle and were unlikely to actually do anything except stare at each other seriously. At this point, the battlefield was scarred and broken with ice spikes scattered about, broken mostly, next to lava pits and cracked grounds. As Zaheer pondered what to do, he saw a silhouette running towards them through the blizzard and eventually recognized it as his sweetie.

"Ghazan. Get ready to get us out of here," he ordered the earthbender.

The guardians too saw her and could hear a faint scream afterwards. It was Korra, catching up behind P'Li, trying to warn her guardians to stop her. She came flying over with her newly acquired firebending and landed near Satoshi as P'Li reached her group.

"Ghazan! Now!" the airbender shouted.

Korra was very worried now. The guardians were in no condition to fight and she herself was pretty tired. Then she realized that if P'Li is a combustionbender and that if she absorbed her bending, then she probably could combustionbend too right now. Ghazan was already earthbending, or trying to as he was exhausted, to escape. With no other choice, Korra gave it a shot and combustionbended. Though being inexperienced, she was surprised by the force and was knocked back, causing the shot to explode in the air above them instead; Satoshi managed to catch her fall. Needless to say, Zaheer, Ghazan, and P'Li were shocked. But P'Li figured, "So that's what that was," she spoke quietly.

"Ghazan!" he shouted again.

"I'm trying!" he yelled.

He earthbended again and managed to break off the ground this time and carried all of them out of there. "Nooo!" Korra screamed out. She tried out her new combustionbending again, running forward to follow them and standing firm this time, but still failed and was knocked back again with the blast barely missing Ghazan's levitated rock—though it was close enough to shake them. Zaheer rebuked the earthbender a little for not being careful, to which he replied kind of angrily, "Well _sor_ -ry, boss! I'm exhausted too here! We've _all_ been through a lot, okay!" And they flew far away from that accursed place on the rock with all four keys, happy in their victory despite everything. At least it wasn't all for nothing.

Satoshi ran to Korra to help her as Nadia still mourned the loss of her partner. "No…" the former Avatar spoke quietly as the firebender helped her up. "They have the keys now, Avatar. What do we do?" he asked her, scared as well.

But Korra was still reeling in from their failure and couldn't actually answer. She was staring wide-eyed and looking around like looking for something.

"Avatar Korra!" the firebender shouted and shook her. (Forgive him still calling her "Avatar" as he still had no idea).

And she snapped out of it. "Wha—what?" she spoke.

"Those people have all four of the keys now," he asserted, "what do we do?"

"Okay. First, we should contact the guardians at the gate. We have to assume they know its location already and are heading for it right now. Tell them to get ready for an imminent attack," she explained to him.

"Alright," the firebender understood.

As he ran to the station to do so, Korra stood in the snow looking at her hands, frightened at not just what the criminals possessing all the keys meant, but at what she would soon have to face: her past.


	9. Episode 9: Haunted

**Hey, guys. I've finally used "bent" instead of "bended" when writing this episode and will be using that from now on. This is something I've been thinking about for a while now and have just recently realized which one I should use and is actually correct. Sorry about that, haha. Enjoy!**

After contacting and warning the guardians at the gate, Satoshi quickly ran back outside to Korra. She was rubbing her elbows, trying to keep warm from the cold.

"It's a good thing Nadia and Talon brought warmer clothes with them. They would've been freezing with the clothes they wore for the volcano," she spoke, chuckling.

"I've warned the guardians, Avatar. And might I suggest we go back inside? You seem to be freezing," he told her.

She wanted to say, "No. We don't have time," but after everything that's happened, that sounded like a good idea. "Yeah, sure. Let's go."

She approached Nadia, who was still grieving the loss of her partner, and told her to come inside too. "He was a kind man," the former Avatar spoke as sincerely as she could, "and a powerful bender. But it wouldn't do you any good to stay out here and freeze to death. We still need you. _I_ need you."

"I know, Avat—" she stopped and chuckled, "sorry. I keep forgetting. I know, Korra."

"We can take his body inside…if you want," Korra told her.

She only nodded. And they all went back inside to the station, bringing Talon's lifeless body with them, and Malina's too. It was relaxing and relieving to be back inside the warmth of the station. Though after P'Li pretty much trashed the place, it kinda lost its coziness a little. The bodies were placed on the two beds, and afterwards, the trio went back to the living room to discuss their situation.

"So what do we do now, Avatar Korra?" Satoshi asked as he cleaned the place up a little, putting the tables and chairs back.

"It's just Korra now," said Nadia leaning against the wall next to the bedroom just before the stairs, "she's not the Avatar anymore." She was a still a little sad and quiet.

Of course, this baffled the firebender, but there was no time for confusion.

"It's a long story," the former Avatar said, "but yeah, just call me 'Korra'."

Satoshi was still confused, but okay.

"Alright then, Korra, what do we do now?" he continued.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds. "I don't know," she eventually spoke, "I honestly don't know what to do."

Both Satoshi and Nadia didn't reply in any way either. They too were at a loss.

"Well then, maybe it's time we get help," the lavabender eventually spoke, "I understand why you didn't want to tell anyone before, Korra. But it's different now. They have all _four_ of the keys. We need to tell someone. We _need_ backup."

"She's right, Korra. You saw it too, didn't you? The aura. The darkness from the keys has influenced them. Making them stronger," Satoshi agreed.

Korra stood leaning her hands against the table while listening to their words; how true it all rings. They've lost too many allies already and it was _her_ fault. But then, she smiled as an idea sprang up in her head.

"You're right. Both of you," she said, "we do need backup. And I know just the person to go to. Let's go."

Korra ran down the stairs and went back outside. The two last guardians looked at each other, confused, and the lavabender shrugged her shoulder before saying, "Let's go."

And they both followed their leader and former Avatar. Outside, Korra was calling to Lefty, who had disappeared during the battle. She was shouting and whistling, but it was a little difficult with the blizzard masking her sound a bit. Then she could hear a groan from somewhere close, near the mountain. Lefty suddenly then emerged from the blizzard, groaning to find his lost friend, walking slowly.

"Lefty!" Korra ran to him.

She gave him a hug and told him neve to disappear like that again before hopping on, though she found it a little difficult without airbending; she tried to airjump, but of course didn't work.

"Right. No more airbending. I really have to keep track of my switches," she said to herself.

She picked herself up and climbed onto his fur. The two guardians followed behind and, once they were all on, they flew off. It felt nice leaving that blizzard and to see the sun again (it was already late morning); they rose up high until clear skies and clouds.

"By the way, Korra. I've been meaning to ask about that…tattoo you now have on your forehead," Nadia noticed, "I'm pretty sure you didn't have that before."

"Yeah, one of the criminals had one like it. She's a combustionbender," she explained, "she channels that bending through the tattoo in her forehead, so when I…absorbed her bending, I guess I got one too. To help me channel the combustionbending, I think."

Both guardians were even more confused.

"So, you're _not_ the Avatar anymore, but you can now absorb bending…somehow?" Satoshi asked, bemused.

"Something like that. It's not really 'absorbing', more like 'switching', I guess. Since I can only hold bending at a time. So if I switch to your firebending, for example, I would lose the combustionbending."

Yep, that did not help them at all and they were still confused. But, they supposed that it's a good ability to have, especially with what they would soon have to face. Anyway, they started to move away from the island and was heading for the Earth Kingdom.

"So who's this backup you have in mind, Korra?" the lavabender asked.

"An old friend," that was all she said.

"We should be asking more people. How can this one person help us?" suggested Satoshi.

"You'll see," Korra replied, smiling.

The two guardians sighed and wished that she would stop being so cryptic and confusing. The fate of the world _was_ at stake after all.

Meanwhile, back at the airship still flying amongst the clouds, everyone was already awake and frantic trying to find a missing Korra. Asami ordered all available crew members to search every inch of the airship in that effort, while she, Tenzin, Taka, Masaru, Mako, and Bolin gathered at the main bridge to discuss.

"I knew something was wrong last night," Tenzin spoke, "we shouldn't have…" He was feeling a little guilt for not staying with her.

Taka on the other hand was quiet. He sat a bit away thinking why his sweetie would just disappear without saying anything or telling anyone…telling _him_. Two of the crew then returned to report,

"Sorry, mam. We've searched everywhere, but there's no sign of her."

"There was nothing?" Asami made sure.

"There is one thing, mam: the sky bison that came aboard with us is missing too," they answered, "I'm guessing she took it and flew off somewhere."

"Alright. Thank you, guys. You can go back to your posts. Tell everyone to go back to their posts," she sighed and told them.

They saluted before leaving to do so.

"She took Lefty," Tenzin spoke.

"Yeah. Looks like she left us again," said Bolin.

"Well, she must've had a reason…right?" Asami reasoned.

"Yeah, just like the last time she disappeared. Just poof. No one saw her again for a year," Mako added.

"I'm sure it wasn't like that. Right, Taka?" the engineer asked.

The energybender looked surprised. "Me?" he spoke, "why would I know?"

"Oh come on, Taka. No more waiting. It's time for the truth," Asami continued, "given the circumstances, I'd say we deserve an explanation."

The energybender looked confused and ambivalent as ever. _Korra disappeared again. Maybe it is time to tell them…_ he thought. He was fearing the worst. Could Mala Ta'ak have somehow gotten to her again?

"Please, Taka. Korra's our friend too. We wanna help, and to do that, we need to understand what's going on," pleaded Mako.

Taka looked to his best friend for confirmation. Masaru nodded and told him that it's probably time, given the situation.

"Alright then," Taka finally spoke, "I suppose you guys _do_ deserve to know the truth now."

Everyone held their breath. Taka told everyone to listen carefully 'cause he was only gonna tell them once. And so he began, all of it: the story of what happened to Korra when she disappeared and why, how they met, and who the Avatar really is; about Mala Ta'ak and how they stopped him.

Somewhere else, Korra and the guardians had just arrived at a small fishing town in the Earth Kingdom. They landed in the forest next to the town to avoid alerting people. Korra told Lefty to stay and just rest, while she and the guardians headed into town.

"Where are we?" asked Nadia.

"A place where we'll find the person who can help us," Korra answered.

As they exited the forest, they entered a gate into the town square where a fountain stood in the middle. From here, the path branched off to three. But either way, they saw plenty of small stands, rows of them in fact, selling fruits and vegetables and fish and what have you, next to rows of houses and buildings.

"Follow me," the former Avatar said.

They walked quite some ways, passing a many stalls and people shouting prices and products at them, until eventually they reached a small hill stretching down to the shoreline. They continued and climbed down the stone stairs carved directly from the hill itself, passing a few more rows of houses to the left and right. At the end, just before the path/steps to the beach, they stopped at a house facing the ocean on the left and Korra knocked on the door.

"This is where he lives?" Satoshi asked.

"Yes. Oh, don't be alarmed if you start to feel a little…strange, by the way," Korra told them.

"Now that you mention it, I _do_ feel a little strange," Nadia remarked.

"Yeah, don't worry about that."

Someone finally opened the door. It was a man; a tall fellow with a strong build. He was wearing regular Earth Kingdom clothing, similar to the one Bolin wears if you don't know, but more light in color and more green. Though he had a dark green scarf around his neck, tall enough to cover a quarter of his face and most of his mouth.

"Oh, it's you. Finally," he said a bit relieved, as if expecting her.

"Hi, Kimo. The spirits told you, huh?" Korra asked, smiling.

"Yeah, they did. Um, what's with the forehead tattoo?"

"Nevermind that. May we come in?"

"Yes, of course. Please, come in."

Inside was pretty spacious. There was a stair to the left to go upstairs to the bedroom. A big square opening was in front of them leading into the kitchen area. Anyway, Kimo sounded like he knew everything that was going on, which he did.

"I'm glad you know the situation, Kimo. Saves me the trouble of explaining it all to you," Korra said, "so I guess you know why we're here then."

"Yeah, you need my help. But Korra… You know why I can't do what you want of me," he said.

"Please, sir. We don't know each other, but Korra says you can help us," Nadia pleaded, "we've lost many friends and partners."

Korra turned sad at her statement. It was true, good people have died to protect her mistake.

"You see, dangerous criminals are now in possession of…" Satoshi spoke.

"The four elemental keys to unlock the gate to release Ner'Gal. I know," Kimo interrupted him.

"Wait, you know?" Nadia asked, surprised.

"Yeah, he knows. Don't worry," Korra told them. "Kimo, I truly understand why you don't want to, you know I do. But you also understand why we need your help."

"You don't need _my_ help, Korra. You only need what I can do," he told her, "I hear you can change between bendings now. Here, change to mine and you'll have what you need to stop them."

He extended his right hand to her so she can do her thing, but she was hesitant.

"It's not that I don't want to, Kimo," she sighed, "you asked about the tattoo; I switched to one of the criminals' bending: combustionbending."

"You can combustionbend now?" he asked, curious.

"Yeah. And it's a pretty…useful bending to have right now," she didn't know the right word to use, "especially with what we're gonna be facing."

"Well then, looks like you have a choice to make, former Avatar. Take my bending or stick with the one you have," he told her.

The guardians interrupted them to ask what his bending is and why is it so special.

"Well, I'm an energybender," he answered.

But the guardians have never heard of that type of bending before and inquired about it.

"It's complicated. The important thing is: it allows him to bend people's energy, preventing them from using their bendings for a while," she explained.

Both Satoshi and Nadia had their mouths open at this point. They were genuinely surprised and amazed to hear that there exists such an ability.

"So kinda like chi-blockers?" Satoshi asked.

"Yes, but better. He can do it using only his mind," Korra happily told them.

Their mouths probably opened wider. It _is_ an impressive ability. To stop your enemies from bending, even if only temporary, is invaluable and an enormous advantage in the battlefield.

"So that's why we've been feeling strange," Satoshi continued.

"Yeah, sorry. I'll 'turn it off'," Kimo said. "So anyway, what's it gonna be Korra?"

He extended his hand once again as an offer. But she pondered about it for a few more seconds.

"Take it, Korra. That ability's more important. It will help us greatly," Nadia gave her advice.

Reluctantly, the former Avatar finally agreed. She grabbed his hand and switched to energybending. Her eyes turned light cyan, transparent like, and her combustionbending tattoo disappeared.

"Do you know how to use it?" he asked her.

"Sort of. I've seen you do it. It's automatic, right? Plus, I actually know someone else who has energybending," she answered.

"You know someone else like me?"

"No, not exactly like you. He uses it in a different way, but he is an energybender," she explained.

"Kimo, what's with all the noise?" a voice spoke from upstairs.

A woman then came down the stairs and called again to the energybender. She was around 44-45 with white hair and wearing a light green shirt and long black pants.

"Korra!" the woman yelled as she saw her before giving her a big hug.

"Nice to see you too, Alana," she chuckled.

"So, I suppose you're here to stop Ner'Gal's release?" she asked.

"And she told us she didn't want anyone to know," Nadia whispered to Satoshi.

"Yeah. We asked Kimo for his help, but he's still… Um, you know."

"Yeah. You remember what happened?" the woman asked.

"Yeah. So it's alright. I understand. He already gave me what I need."

"Are you sure you can't stay for one cup of tea?" she wanted her to stay for a while longer.

"Sorry, we really have to go. The ones who have the keys got a headstart on us, so we should try and catch up to them. Thanks though, Alana. Let's go, guys."

As the guardians were walking to the door, Korra gently and lightly touched their heads and used her new energybending to cause them to fall unconscious. Alana asked her why she did that and the former Avatar told her, "because what Nadia said was true. We've already lost many good friends and allies. I won't lose another person because of my mistake. So I'm gonna do this alone."

She then asked them both to kindly watch over them.

"Are you sure about this, Korra?" Kimo asked her.

"I'm sure. Besides, I have your energybending now. I can just block their bending and kick their ass, right? Easy," she said a little too confidently.

"You _do_ know the more people you have to block, and the more you use it, the harder the strain will be, right?" he reminded her.

"Yeah, I know. I kicked your ass that way, remember?" she laughed, though with a hint of seriousness, showing that she realizes what was at stake, "but I'll manage. Thanks again, guys."

She gave both of them a hug and a bow before parting ways. As she exited out the door to greet the sun as it shone at its highest, memories of her dark past returned to her. To this day they continue to haunt her, especially now seeing the death and destruction her mistakes have left in its wake. But no more. No one else will get hurt or die because of her. She was determined to fix it, alone, at all costs. Even if that means giving up her own life to succeed. And with that, she started making her way back to the forest and to Lefty. Once there, she hopped on the sky bison and they took off. As they got high enough, she meditated once more to find Zaheer and his criminal gang by attuning to the energy of the keys they now hold.

Back at the airship, Taka had just finished his story and needless to say, they were all shocked by the revelation. Asami, Tenzin… None of them knew how to reply or process everything the energybender just told them: the truth about the Avatar, the dark spirit, and everything. Asami sat down on her chair after standing all this time to try and process it.

"So you're saying…the Avatar was actually an agent of darkness?" she asked him.

"Yes, but…it was a little more complicated than that," Taka answered .

"No! I refuse to believe that! I refuse to believe that Korra would do all that!" Bolin yelled out.

"Calm down, Bolin!" his brother shouted.

"Calm down? How can you tell me to be calm? And how can _you_ be so calm after he just told us that Korra served a dark spirit—oh sorry, the _darkest_ spirit ever!—and that she _killed_ people for it?!"

Everyone was quiet. The earthbender does have a point. They all still wanted to believe in Korra, their friend, even after that story. But it was difficult…

"Look, guys, it wasn't as simple as that, okay?" Masaru added, "she didn't really have a choice. Mala Ta'ak controlled her…in a way," he said that last part a little quietly.

Mako then sighed, "Look, whatever the case may be, our current problem's still the same: where did Korra go and how can we find her?"

"Hmph. Just like last time. She disappears and is probably serving another dark spirit or something," Bolin pessimistically said: he was disappointed and angry.

"Hey, stop saying that! It's not like that, okay!" Taka stood up, "you have no idea what she's been through! The things she… She sacrificed," his mind returned to the moment Korra told him about Naga. "You think she wanted to leave everything behind; to leave you guys, her _friends_ ," he continued, calming down a bit, "you have no idea what we went through to stop Mala Ta'ak being free, together. And we _did_ stop him. He can't control her anymore. Korra hated him just as much as you guys, maybe _more_ , for making her leave everything she knew and turning her into that person."

"Alright, let's everybody just calm down," Tenzin tried to stop the argument, "Mako's right. Our focus right now should just be about finding Korra. We can deal with this all this stuff _after_ she's with us again."

"Tenzin's right. The past is the past. Whatever she was back then, she's still our friend _now_ ; and she needs our help," Asami added, "so, does anyone have any ideas on how we can find her?"

Taka sighed and calmed down to try and help, "I think I know how we can find her," he said, "I can use my energybending to try and locate her energy."

"Well okay. Do it then," Mako agreed.

"Alright. But I'm gonna need some quiet," he said.

He then walked away from the table a few feet and sat down on the floor, crossing his legs, and meditated, attuning his own energy to that of the world. His eyes glowed bright green.

"Whoa. That's cool," Bolin was amused.

Meanwhile, Korra had just finished meditating and has successfully located the keys. "Found you," she said quietly in a serious tone. She then directed Lefty to the location and they flew fast. The place was somewhere remote, inside a cave high on a mountain. Korra landed Lefty on an outcrop just a bit below where the entrance is. She didn't really know whether Lefty should stay or whether she should let her go home. She might die after all…here…in the middle of nowhere. But no; she still had hope.

"Wait here for me, okay, boy?" she optimistically told him.

She hugged him wide before climbing up to reach the entrance.

"Here we go," she sighed.

She entered. The entrance was like a tunnel, long and pretty deep, but she finally reached an opening. In the wide open area after, she could see and hear Zaheer talking to someone up on a raised part of the cave; Ming-Hua, P'Li, and Ghazan were standing next to him. Korra hid behind one of the stalagmites and watched, though it was vague; she couldn't see the person clearly. But it was clear enough they were both talking about the keys and the gate. And just then, Zaheer showed the person the four keys. Korra widened her eyes at the sight and became nervous a little; it only served to remind her of her past mistakes. But she steeled herself and stepped out of the shadows to end this.

"Hey! Zaheer!" she announced herself.

Surprised, the person quickly disappeared like smoke and the criminals turned around to face her.

"Just you alone, Korra? Well that's pretty stupid of you," the airbender spoke, "should've brought those guardians with you. Need I remind you that you are _not_ the Avatar anymore. It is we who have all the elements at our disposal now, not you."

Nevertheless, Korra was smiling. Of course she was, she could block all their bendings now and level the playing field.

"That maybe so, Zaheer! But I think I can still take you! _All_ of you!" she shouted to him, preparing herself.

The airbender laughed loudly, "Really now?"

"She's gone insane," remarked Ming-Hua.

"Really," she said quietly, finally focusing her energybending.

All of a sudden Ming-Hua's water tendrils dropped to the ground and she felt strange; they all did. Though Korra herself was also starting to feel the strain a little for having to focus on blocking four people at once.

"Boss, I can't…bend the water," she said a little weak.

"What?! Kill her!" he shouted.

"P'Li tried to combustionbend, but found herself unable to. Ghazan then tried his, but of course, failed as well. Zaheer was flabbergasted, to say the least, as he himself was unable to airbend. Korra smirked and jumped up to them and started kicking their ass. The four criminals continued to try and bend to defend against her attacks, but still could not. Ming-Hua was the most powerless as, without her water tendrils, she had no arms and no means of fighting. Korra then pulled out a knife she had been holding on to for a while and started slicing away.

"Argh!" they exclaimed as one by one each of them were cut.

Korra managed to kick and knock Ming-Hua and P'Li down off of the raised platform.

"How are you doing this?" Zaheer asked her, feeling weaker by the minute.

She chuckled, "That's for me to know and for you to never find out," and she punched him hard; blood splattered out.

She also subdued Ghazan who tried to sneak behind her and knocked him down off the platform too.

"So what now, Korra? Are you gonna kill us? For that is the only way; we will never stop," the leader expressed his determination.

"Yes, Zaheer, I am going to kill you; all of you," she answered a little too nonchalantly, "I've done it before, so it shouldn't be too hard to do it again one last time." Is the darkness returning again? Have her haunting memories and the death her mistake caused broken her again once more?

Needless to say, the airbender was shocked to hear that from the former Avatar.

"But at least now, I'll be doing it to protect the world, and not for some dark purpose," Korra continued, looking a little indifferent and serious, but also smiling; showing that she wasn't succumbing to the darkness, rather only considering what she thought she needed to do to protect the world _from_ darkness.

For, like the criminal himself said just now, that is the only way to truly stop them. Though the strain was starting to become great and a little painful for her, but she tried not to look like she was struggling. She raised her hand with the knife, prepared to strike. But as she did, she seemingly missed and hit his shoulder instead.

"Aaarrggghhh!" Zaheer screamed in pain, blood dripping out.

She couldn't bring herself to do it. She remembered all too well the sensation of killing, how fun and releasing it was… And how easy it became after she had done it so many times. Korra didn't want to be that person anymore, dark and indifferent; even _if_ this time was for the greater good. And in her hesitation, P'Li saw an opportunity and slammed her to the wall, leaving the knife in his shoulder. Korra then focused more of her energy on the combustionbender, weakening her further. She stumbled helplessly before falling down. Though doing so required great effort on the part of Korra, especially since she was still trying to focus on the other three as well. She was noticeably sweating and tired now, but she pushed on. She kneeled down on top of P'Li and started punching her face, again and again. Blood eventually splattered out of the combustionbender's mouth as the former Avatar didn't relent. Zaheer pulled the knife out of his shoulder and tried to struggle away, but was still coping with the pain. But, fortunately for him, the strain was starting to prove too great for Korra to handle and she began to falter, struggling away from the combustionbender. Zaheer noticed this and also noticed his energy returning gradually. He smirked at this and stood up slowly.

"What's the matter, Korra? Getting tired?" he taunted her.

Korra made her way down, stumbling by a downed Ghazan and Ming-Hua; though they too noticed their energy returning and smirked as well. They both stood up and Ming-Hua bended her water back, reforming her tendrils.

"You're in trouble now, Korra. You're gonna pay for what you just did," she spoke.

Korra turned around and fell to her knees, looking horrible and fatigued, sweating and mustering up the strength to block them. She succeeded for a while, but not much, and giving everything she had left. She felt a part of her breaking and slipping away. Ming-Hua and Ghazan could feel it, but it wasn't as strong as before. Thankfully for Korra, a voice was suddenly heard from the entrance.

"Korra!" a faint scream.

"Ghazan! Ming-Hua! Let's go!" Zaheer yelled to them.

"No, we can still kill her!" Ming-Hua shouted back, though she was obviously still feeling Korra's blocking and wasn't strong enough yet to do so, nor was Ghazan.

"Korra!" the scream got louder.

"We don't have time! Let's go while we still can!" their leader screamed, holding his wounded shoulder.

Reluctantly they agreed and returned to the platform. It was then that Korra gave in and fainted from the great strain.

"Get us out of here, Ghazan!" he ordered him.

And the earthbender bent the rock walls, breaking and shattering them, carving a path for them to escape. Ming-Hua carried a beaten P'Li and they went through. Nadia, Satoshi, _and_ Kimo then arrived. Satoshi saw the broken wall and followed them through, but Ghazan managed to bend the walls back behind them to cover their escape. He lightningbent towards them, but it was too late and hit the wall instead, destroying it a little, but not enough to break through.

"Satoshi! Forget about them! Korra needs us now!" Nadia shouted to him, holding an unconscious Korra in her arms.

He did just that and went back to help. And just as they carried her up to get her out, Taka and the rest arrived too, emerging from the cave entrance.

"Hey! Let her go!" he screamed out and energybent, shooting out an energy bolt.

The trio barely dodged the shot and screamed at them, trying to explain themselves.

"Wait! Wait! We're friends! We're friends!" Satoshi yelled out.

"Hey, that shot. And the fact that I somehow can't block you," Kimo noticed, "you're the energybender Korra mentioned."

Taka was surprised to hear him say that and asked him who he is.

"Like he said, we're friends, okay?" he answered.

"If that's true, then why are you holding her unconscious?" Asami challenged them.

Everyone was prepared to fight; Mako, Tenzin, and Bolin too were ready to bend (though it would be useless as Kimo was around).

"We found her like this, okay. We're not here to hurt her," Nadia pleaded to them, "please, let us help. The criminals that did this to her just escaped through that wall."

The team noticed the wall and it did seem like it was just destroyed.

"Okay then. If what you say is true, then who are you people?" Taka inquired.

"We're the guardians of the elemental keys, chosen by Korra herself when she was still the Avatar to protect them and keep them safe," Nadia explained.

Of course, none of them understood what this meant and were looking confused as ever.

"The elemental keys have the power to unlock the gate which holds the Spirit of Death prisoner and unleash him upon the world," Kimo further explained.

But that explanation only served to confuse them even more.

"Look, we'll explain everything, but for now, can we just trust each other?" he pleaded to them again, "please. Do it for Korra. Your friend here is in serious trouble."

Though still unsure, they reluctantly agreed as Korra was looking horrible and seemingly near-death. The team brought them all back to the airship, which was hovering just outside the cave waiting for them. Tenzin already brought Lefty on board when the airbender saw him as they arrived. They brought Korra to one of the bedrooms and laid her down on the bed. She was shaking feverishly and sweating profusely.

"What's going on with her?" Asami asked.

"Her body's going into shock, 'cause her spirit is breaking away," Kimo explained, walking up to her, "both her spirit _and_ body couldn't handle the strain of energybending; her spirit wasn't unbendable and she was corrupted."

"Wait wait. She has energybending now? Where did she get that from?" Taka asked, curious.

"From me," he answered.

They all looked at him suspiciously.

"Look, I'll explain everything. I promise. But for now, we need to help Korra. She's dying," he reasserted how grave the situation is, "do you guys not understand that?

"Alright! So how do we help her?" Asami interrupted.

" _We_ can't. But he can," he said looking at Taka.

"Me?" he asked, bemused.

"Your energybending can help. I sensed your spirit is strong and unbendable when we met, so you can do this without breaking like her," he explained, "that said, you're still gonna be expending your own energy, so be careful."

"Alright, whatever. I don't care about that. What do I have to do?"

"Come here. Focus. Try to heal her body, slowly and carefully, while also trying to heal her spirit."

"Okay."

"So I think you need to reach out to her," he continued.

"Reach out to her? Why? Where is she?"

"Most likely in the Spirit World already," he revealed to them, "or at least somewhere in-between."

"What? But you said I need to heal her spirit."

"Yes, you do. Essentially, that means you have to pull her _back_ from the Spirit World, while keeping her body alive so that her spirit has something to go back to, before…it becomes permanent. You're the only energybender here, so you're the only one who can do this."

"But you said that you're an energybender too?" he asked him.

"No, not like you," he told him, "look, we don't have a lot of time. Just please trust me. You can do this."

That was lot to take in for him, but also for everyone else behind, horrified and watching silently as Taka attempted to do the unthinkable.


	10. Episode 10: The Gathering

Korra awoke inside a field of beautiful lily flowers with the sun shining bright above them. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with both hands before standing up. The field, or rather the flowers that make up the field, was in the shape of a wide circle (though the field itself extended beyond the flowers in all directions), and beyond it were a few sparse trees here and there spaced between each other seemingly randomly; they had very little leaves and looked as if dead. And beyond _them_ , where Korra was facing, was a big forest stretching from left to right, seemingly never-ending; the areas in the other directions were nothing but continuations of the field and, like the forest edges, seemed to go on forever, endless, with wide blue skies greeting them at the horizon. Needless to say, Korra was confused and wondered where she was. She didn't remember anything of what happened, her memories a little fuzzy. And she hadn't really noticed yet, but she was wearing her usual water tribe clothing again. Not knowing what to do, she started walking forwards slowly, her hands brushing past the waist-high flowers as if wading through shallow waters; it felt nice; she smiled. She didn't really know why, but she was smiling and she felt truly happy. The horrible memories have ceased as she has forgotten them—or rather it was lost in her memories or ignored—for the moment, and for the first time in a long time she didn't feel a heavy burden on her shoulders nor her heart. She just existed…there in that place beyond place and time. She finally exited the flower field and entered the garden of trees. Even there she was smiling, not a care in the world. Then suddenly, a little rabbit-looking creature appeared from a small hole on one of the trees and hopped its way to Korra. It looked cute and the former Avatar kneeled down to greet it.

"Hey there, little fella. How are you?" she spoke still smiling, not a care in the world.

Then all of a sudden, something felt…wrong. Korra's smile vanished slowly as the sky turned grayish and thunder roared above. The cute little rabbit creature began to seize and shake, and it started to morph into something bigger and darker; Korra took a few steps back in horror. The creature morphed into…herself: the dark Korra from the past, from her time with Mala Ta'ak; the one who loves killing and hurting people.

"Hello, Korra," it spoke in a bit of a distorted voice with a dark aura surrounding its body.

Korra looked frightened, to say the least. It was like looking into a mirror, but one that showed her past reflection. Dark Korra was wearing their formal water tribe clothing (what she wore at the time).

"Remember me, Korra?" it continued to taunt her; a shadow or silhouette of Mala Ta'ak then manifested behind her, tall and black, though it was only a reflection of the past; he wasn't really there, thankfully.

The wind started to pick up speed. Korra felt something change and noticed that her appearance now completely mirrored her dark self; wearing the formal clothing and her hair was tied back behind and two locks on each side of her face (her usual hair style). Her expression was one of complete terror as the darkness began to surround her too.

"Nooo!" she screamed out, "I am _not_ that person anymore!"

She undid her hair as she did so, letting it fall down once again, and throwing her hair bangles away.

"Stay away!" she shouted.

The dark Korra laughed a dark, distorted, and sinister laugh to taunt Korra before being dispelled by a sudden burst of light; it screamed as it vanished and died away. Then everything turned bright again: the thunderclouds went away and the sun returned to shine its light on the field; her clothes returned to normal, but her hair remained loose and a little unkempt. As the dark Korra disappeared and the smoke cleared, a figure was seen standing behind it. It was none other than Avatar Wan, the first Avatar. He looked pretty much as he was when he was still alive: long hair and a beard, wearing an orange and yellow robe with a dark blue sash and light green armbands, and he had his bright red scarf around his neck.

"Hey, Korra," he greeted her, smiling.

But Korra was still horrified and panting, sweating a bit too. Wan, noticing this, slowly and carefully approached her to try and calm her down.

"Hey. Easy, Korra. Everything's fine now," he said, "it's okay. That tends to happen when you first arrive here. Though maybe not as intense as that…" he spoke that last part quietly.

Korra managed to snap out of it a bit, "…arrive…here?"

The first Avatar then continued to try and explain it to her, but she still couldn't focus.

"Avatar…Wan?" she asked.

"That's me, alright," he laughed.

She started to calm down and regain her composure. "Where am I? Where are we?"

"Well…that's a little hard to explain," he said, "this place has many names, and it doesn't really have an official one. But I like to call it 'The Gathering'. This is where every person goes to when they die, before they enter the Spirit World," he tried to explain. "Their lives—yours too—converge here; their memories, their thoughts."

"Wait. So I'm dead?" the former Avatar asked, shocked.

"Welll… Not reeaally…" he was being a little vague, "see, this place is where people go when they're _about_ to die, but not quite there yet. The fact that you're here, Korra, means that we still have a chance."

"A chance for what?" she inquired.

"A chance to get you back to the physical world; to bring you back to life," he answered.

She was pretty confused, but mostly ambivalent. Regardless, she asked him how they could do that and the first Avatar told her that they must go through the Forest of Life. But he also warned her that when they enter, her memories will start to manifest itself and that she must accept them, willingly, and not fight them. He then started walking towards the forest. Korra looked at him strangely, tilting her head to the left a bit, but not indifferent nor angry. More like casually and seemingly still carefree. She then smiled and followed him. She joined Avatar Wan at the entrance to the forest.

"Hey. Why did you say that I have to accept my memories or whatever?" she asked him.

"Because that's what you're struggling with, isn't it?" he replied as he started walking again and entered the forest; and she followed forth.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's why you changed your appearance, right?"

And just as he said, when Korra looked, she was now wearing her present clothing, the triad clothing she got from that firebender.

"Wha—?" she was bemused.

"You know, you're more than your appearance, Korra. Change has to come from inside," he told her, "and to do that, you have to accept who you are first."

The former Avatar didn't really know what to say and stayed quiet. He was right anyway. All this time she had been trying to avoid it and ignore it instead of facing it. And all that made her unsure and she began thinking…

"Facing your past can sometimes be difficult, I know. But you have to in order to accept it and move _forward_ ," he continued.

The forest didn't seem like anything special; they were walking on a path that continued straight on, but at times, there would be branches leading to different parts of the forest. And even though the forest seemed dense and thick, it was still bright as if the sunlight penetrates through the canopy and lights the way. It actually seemed quite beautiful and calming. And it wasn't all just trees they encountered. Sometimes they would pass by beautiful gardens too among others; and they would encounter the local inhabitants as well, animal-like creatures. Her life flashed all around her as they walked; memories of her time in the White Lotus compound, of when she first met Mako and Bolin, and when they entered and competed in pro-bending together, to name a few. Wan asked her to help him navigate through her memories, but she was still feeling unsure.

"I don't know. It's all still a little fuzzy," she seemed hesitant or nervous, "well, if you're not sure about this, then let's turn back before we make a wrong turn or something."

"Relax," he chuckled, "we'll make it through, but I need your help to do that. Come on, don't you wanna get out of here?"

Korra then stopped walking and looked contemplative. Wan noticed this and turned around to check on her. He saw the expression on her face, one of uncertainty and sadness; feelings he himself knew very well.

"You don't, do you?" he asked her, "you _don't_ wanna get out of here."

Korra looked at him and replied, "Look, Avatar Wan, sir…"

The first Avatar laughed gleefully. "You don't need to 'sir' me, Korra. I'm your friend here, not your master or anything. Just call me 'Wan'."

"Alright, 'Wan'. I feel that…maybe I deserve this. I've done some pretty bad things in that one year I was away and even before then; in my life. Enough to defeat all the good I've ever done maybe."

"So have I," he confided to her, "I was like you a long time ago. I served my creator, the one you call 'Mala Ta'ak', and did a lot of evil things for him. But I found my light and learned to forge my own path. I learned that we always have a choice, no matter what. He may have created us, Korra, but he doesn't define who we are. Only _we_ get to choose that. So don't let the things he made you do define you or your life. Don't let it overshadow the good you've done and the good person you _know_ you are."

Korra didn't reply and only listened, pondering about what he said. He then told her, "Let's go. We still have quite some ways to go," and gently grabbed her by the hand. She was still contemplating, but agreed to keep moving. Memories continued to flash, but it wasn't until they stopped at one of the garden areas that her memories went full force and played itself all around like a movie on a giant screen.

"Are you okay, Korra?" he was a little worried.

"Yeah… I'm fine," she replied a little quiet, still unsure.

 **(Past)**

It was around nine months ago. Korra was still the Avatar back then and still bound to her servitude to the Spirit of Darkness, Mala Ta'ak. The dark spirit had tasked her to meet up with his two most trusted and loyal servants, Mal and Fel, in a few days at the docks in a fishing town somewhere in the Earth Kingdom, so she decided to go early and wait for them there. Korra flew by glider and was flying over a forest—she was still wearing her formal water tribe clothing at this time—and could see the town in front of her getting closer. But before she could reach it, all of a sudden she stopped and fell. She screamed as she was falling and eventually hit some trees and branches. Snap! Crack! Thump! And she landed on the ground, her glider following shortly after, falling beside. It was painful, to say the least, and she fell unconscious. But before she completely passed out, she could vaguely see two figures walking to her, arguing by the sounds of it.

When Korra finally woke up, she found herself inside a small but spacious house and sitting on a chair. She wasn't bound in any way nor was she gagged, but she felt...strange somehow; felt weak.

"Finally awake, I see," a voice spoke behind her.

She turned around to see her captor: it was a woman; the same woman whom Korra met when she went to see Kimo: his mother, Alana. But of course, she didn't know that at the time. She was holding a cup of warm tea, sipping it at times as she walked over to a chair next to Korra's and sat down. She seemed like a kind woman, loved to smile a lot.

"Oh, where are my manners? I am Alana and that's my son Kimo," she spoke, "oh where is he? Come down here, son! Don't be rude! Greet our new guest."

Thump thump thump! She could hear his footsteps as he came down the stairs. And there he was, Kimo, the energybender. Korra was confused as ever.

"So, Korra, how are you feeling? Better, I hope," Alana spoke again.

And to the Avatar's surprise, she did feel better. She still felt strange, but freer somehow.

"Sorry for the way we stopped you, by the way. I told my son to wait a little more, but he wouldn't listen, as usual," she looked at her son in a bit of a disapproving manner.

"I told you, mom. We didn't know where she was nor where she was gonna come from, so I made sure she couldn't get past us," he tried to explain again.

"Excuse me," Korra interrupted, "um, why exactly did you stop me? And why did you bring me here? Wherever _here_ is."

Alana then went on to explain to her the reason. She told Korra that she and her son talk with spirits quite often, and that they heard she was coming, so they took it as an opportunity to help her. As to where she was, she was actually inside the town she was heading to.

"What do you mean 'help' me?" the Avatar asked.

The woman stood up and placed her tea on a small table next to her. "Well, help you with your Mala Ta'ak problem of course. He has enslaved you, has he not, Avatar?" she revealed their intentions, "and your bendings. It's through those energies that he controls you, isn't it?"

Needless to say, Korra was shocked and asked her how she could know about that.

"I told you: we talk to spirits often. Well, my son does."

"Well even so, no one can help me with that problem. And as for my bendings; believe me, if I can get rid of them, I would," Korra a little desperately told her.

"Oh, I forgot. Yes, don't worry about that. You see, we've taken care of that for you," she said.

Korra could only smile and chuckle softly in trying to figure out what she meant by that. She couldn't really be saying that what Korra thought she was saying…could she? Her smile quickly disappeared and she looked around trying to find something. She spotted a glass of water on the counter to her right. She stood up and waved her right hand in an attempt to bend the water out. But to her surprise and amazement, she couldn't. She could _not_ bend the water. Alana then grabbed her hand, gently lowering it down, and told her to relax.

"It's okay, Korra. It's only temporary," she told her.

"But… But how?" she asked bemused as she sat back down.

"Well you see, Avatar, my son here is special. Kind of like you, I suppose. Somehow he is…very much attuned to spirits and the Spirit World," she explained as she circled Korra, "and through that connection, he's somehow able to 'bend' spirits, or rather their energy. But also _people's_ energies. Specifically: benders."

Korra was at a loss for word as she tried to follow and understand.

"We found out that whenever my son is close to a bender, he can block their energy, or 'chi' as you people call it, using only his mind. Or rather, his energy, I suppose. Basically, if you're confused, Korra, he can stop benders from using their bending for a while. Even one as powerful as you, Avatar."

Korra was still baffled, and amazed, by all this, but happy too. For the first time in a long time, she couldn't feel Mala Ta'ak, neither his presence nor his influence, in her. She could also feel the darkness slipping away; she was free. Though Kimo then warned her that he couldn't do it forever. At some point, it will falter and Mala Ta'ak _will_ return.

"Hence the word 'temporary'," he said.

But Korra was excited to be free again, even if it's only for a short while. She felt happy.

"So what are you going to do with this momentary freedom, Avatar?" Alana asked.

"I don't know. There's so much…" Korra enthusiastically replied.

She ran to the window to see all the people walking outside and murmuring (they were still living in the town then, not near the beach).

"Hey now. Don't get too far, Korra. My bending has a range," Kimo explained to her, "and the farther you get from me, the weaker it'll get."

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'm just excited. I haven't felt this… _free_ in a long time," she told him, smiling.

Kimo approached her staring out the window. "Must be tough," he said, "having such a dark spirit in your head all the time."

"He's not there _all_ the time. He can't 'cause he's still trapped and that limits his power and reach, thankfully. But yeah, it is. You get used to it though, I guess," she replied a bit sad, "but, it can be nice in a way too, I suppose. The command is pure, so there are no doubts or worries in my mind. It's like everything is clear. Well, at least _during_. But after… Well…"

The energybender didn't speak. He wanted to give her time to get used to this.

She then laughed, "It's okay. I'm fine."

Korra actually looked happy and was feeling more like her old self. Kimo lowered his scarf a bit and smiled.

"If you don't mind me asking, when are you supposed to meet up with them?" he asked.

"About four or five days from now," she answered.

"Okay. So we still have time…"

"Yes we do…" Korra spoke smiling, "we have time to finish it.

Kimo knew exactly what she meant by that, but was unsure on how to approach it.

"Is it about Ner'Gal?" Alana suddenly asked, stepping out of the kitchen.

"Yes," said Korra, determined, "I have to make sure that he can't escape. I'm gonna need your son's help to keep the darkness buried."

"Well then, go. Protect the world as I always believed the Avatar would," she gave them her blessing, "remember, Korra. You can always fight the darkness within. Avatar Wan did it once, and you can do it too."

The Avatar smiled and kept those words close to her heart. Before she forgot, she gave Korra her glider back. She thanked her and accepted it. Kimo gave his mother a hug and told her that she would see them soon. "Be safe," she wished them good luck and bid farewell. And they left to safeguard the world once again.

 **(Present)**

The memories continued to flow in a circle like waves around the former and first Avatar as they stood and viewed them.

"Even when in the service of darkness, you strived to do good and protect people," Wan spoke, "because that's who you are, Korra: a good person, a protector," he grabbed her shoulder, "a hero; not a monster. And it wasn't only because you were the Avatar. That's just your nature as a person."

Korra was crying. It was overwhelming for her; the memories, the emotions, his words. She really felt like she didn't know what to do anymore. Then he hugged her. "It's okay to cry, you know. And to be sad," he said, "it's better than feeling nothing."

She tried to wipe the tears away and continued viewing the memories still playing and flowing—it was at the parts where she trained the future guardians of the elemental keys.

"What did you call him?" she suddenly asked.

"Called who?" Wan replied, confused.

"Mala Ta'ak. You said before that that's what _I_ called him," she explained, "so that implies you called him by a different name?"

He chuckled, "Oh, that. Yes I did. You see, in my era, we called him 'Vaatu', and his sister, 'Raava'. You see, these two spirits, whatever you wanna call them, have been around for a very long time. Since the beginning, according to some people. And each culture throughout the ages have different names for them and tell different stories and so on."

He continued on about how the spirits nowadays call them Mala Ta'ak and Cha'haya; and Korra inquired whether Cha'haya/Raava, really _did_ die during their battle with Mala Ta'ak/Vaatu 10,000 years ago. He confirmed to her that she did, but that it wasn't permanent.

"These two spirits… They're very ancient and very powerful," he explained, "according to Raava herself, they can't ever _truly_ die. She told me that if one of them were to die, that spirit would just be reborn during the next Harmonic Convergence. But the problem with that is that if Raava were to be defeated, then there would be no one to oppose Vaatu; and he would have dominion over the realms and there would be ten thousand years of darkness. That's why I came up with the idea to imprison him instead of killing him. That way, he wouldn't be a problem no matter what."

Korra listened on without speaking or interrupting as Wan told his story.

"Unfortunately, Raava couldn't do something like that on her own, but this time, she had me," he continued, "she helped remind me of the person I was before Vaatu took me. Like you, I too thought that my life was over when I succumbed to the darkness in my own heart; and the darkness _was_ mine. As I'm sure you know, he didn't _make_ me dark, just brought out and strengthened the darkness that was already there."

And she _did_ understand it all too well. No matter how many times she didn't want to believe it, how many times she wanted to lie and say that Mala Ta'ak made her do it, she knew deep down it was mostly her. In fact, at times she even enjoyed it, much to her dismay afterwards. But listening to him overcome it too like she had been trying, gave her a little hope and she managed to smile again.

"But Raava reminded me that we can always fight the darkness inside; that there's always hope, if we just don't give up. And so, when she went to face her brother, I was there by her side. The dark spirit's creation became his undoing as I lent her some of my own power and helped weaken Vaatu a little first before she did the rest; and even then it was close. And it still required Raava to sacrifice herself, but at least we succeeded. The darkness was sealed away and would never hurt anyone ever again. But the light _too_ vanished with Raava's death, so I vowed to be that light, in her place. I vowed to use what she taught me and teach it to others, and to use the power that Vaatu granted me for good and for the light instead of the dark; to bring hope to people and protect the world; and to be a _good_ person. And that's the story of how the Avatar became a protector and a symbol of hope. Of course it wasn't that simple, but I made it work. Haha."

Korra laughed as well. She was feeling hopeful again, with renewed determination to finish this and get back to the physical world.

"So where is she now then? Raava?" she asked him, "the Harmonic Convergence was six months ago, and I didn't see her nor did anyone or any spirit."

"I… I don't know," he replied, not knowing the answer either, "she _should've_ returned at the next Harmonic Convergence, which was six months ago, like you said. Maybe her sacrifice meant that she…"

He couldn't bear to say it nor could Korra bear herself to hear what she knew he was going to say. Nevertheless, the memory wave was still playing and they both sat down as they gazed upon it again.

"We still have to go through your memories a little and then it's back home for you," he told her lightheartedly, trying to lift the mood.

"Alright. Let's do it," she said a little sad, but with renewed faith nonetheless.

 **(Past)**

Korra and Kimo had just returned back to the town, and with one day left to spare, finished with the business they were dealing with, which were about the keys and the guardians. It was already past midnight and his mother was already fast asleep in the bedroom. They too were tired and headed upstairs to join her. Kimo slept first, exhausted, but Korra stayed up a little longer. Even before this, she could feel Mala Ta'ak returning at times, though he didn't seem to realize what was happening. Now that Kimo is asleep means his power is diminished as well, causing Korra to begin to revert back.

"Hello, Korra. What have you been up to?" a dark voice was heard.

She meditated and went inside her mind to communicate with the dark spirit, floating in darkness.

"Nothing, master. I'm already at the town awaiting your servants. I thought I'd come early, just in case," she solemnly and humbly spoke.

"Ahhh, very good, my Avatar. Inform me further when you have met with them. I feel our connection slightly fading; this accursed prison dampens my powers so… My sister did a good job, curse her. But anyway, we will speak again soon. Until then, my Avatar…" he slowly faded and vanished.

Korra was scared that he would find out, but threw a sigh of relief at the fact that he didn't seem to notice. She decided to sleep after that and lied down on one of the spare beds they had; the night wasn't getting any younger and the day would soon greet them with the sun.

As morning came and the roosters crowed, Kimo got up and yawned wide; he awoke to an empty unmade bed where Korra was sleeping. Concerned, he immediately got out of bed and went downstairs, but as he was reaching for the stairs, he could hear the door open and close. He immediately jumped through the steps, but the Avatar was nowhere to be seen downstairs.

"She left," he spoke quietly.

He hurried up and went outside to find her, but it was pretty crowded that day and he had trouble finding her through all the people around; not to mention their murmurs and shouting. He then scrambled up to the roof (square-shaped) of one of the houses and tried to find her. But the Avatar had a good head start on him and was already making her way towards the beach to meet the spirits. Mala Ta'ak had returned and the darkness was flowing through her again. She ran fast, zipping through people and fruit stands with agility, though some of them was hit and fell down.

"Hey, watch it!" – "Watch where you're going!" were a few remarks from bystanders.

Korra took a shortcut through a small alley to get there faster; it would exit out to the streets where the stairs down to the beach are. But as she exited, an arm suddenly popped up from the right and she was knocked down. Smack! Slam!

"Not so fast, Avatar," Kimo suddenly appeared, "don't do this, Korra. _Fight_ him."

But she immediately retaliated by kicking him in the chest, and then throwing a few punches when she got up. He dodged all of this and returned with one himself. He knocked Korra back to the stairs causing her to fall, but she managed to recover a little and somersaulted her way down to the bottom—though she still landed badly and fell. As she did, Kimo followed her down and landed next to her.

"Just because I'm a non-bender, doesn't mean I don't know how to fight," he said to her.

She recovered and attempted to firebend, but of course, it failed.

"Ah, ah, ah. No bending allowed," he waved his finger.

"Oh yeah," Korra just remembered, looking surprised and tired.

Unable to bend, she resorted back to hand-to-hand.

"Well, I don't need my bending to kick your ass," she was confident.

And they were both pretty good at fighting, actually. It was pretty much a tie with both of them being able to dodge the other's attacks and counter—though Kimo managed to connect a punch or two and a kick or two; without her bending, Korra wasn't the better fighter. Things weren't looking good for the Avatar. And smack! right in the cheek and she went down.

"What's wrong, Korra?" Mala Ta'ak spoke to her, "this is not because of my prison. This is…something else."

"Alright, Korra. I'm taking you back," Kimo told her.

But as he reached down to grab her, something happened.

"Aaarrghhh!" he suddenly screamed out.

All of a sudden his head felt like it was going to split open and he heard a voice in his head. He found himself floating in an ethereal place.

"What is this? What are you?" a dark voice spoke to him; though the dark spirit didn't seem to understand what it was, or couldn't see, anyway.

It showed him a few dark images and nightmares. Kimo then fell down to the ground, still clutching his head, looking scared out of his mind and shaking. Korra got up and rubbed her face a little to wake up. He saw the energybender on the ground, shaking and looking scared, and, in a moment of clarity, ran to him to help.

"Oh… Kimo, are you okay?" she asked him, worried and feeling guilty.

But he couldn't answer. He probably didn't even notice her at this point. Then the dark spirit returned to Korra and told her to hurry, that she was wasting time and needed to get going. She tried to fight him, but with his control fully back, she was overwhelmed quickly and conceded.

"Yes, master," she spoke before running off to the beach and to the docks, leaving him there in his pain.

And though Korra felt a little sad as she tried to remember and hold on to their kind words, Mala Ta'ak's commands were still pure, and so she kept going. She met up with his loyal spirits and boarded a boat headed…somewhere.

 **(Present)**

Then, the memory ended. Reliving that moment made her shake again; a little angry.

"It wasn't your fault, Korra," Wan told her.

"I know," she said, "it's just… Remembering that moment… It's not a good memory, you know."

She _was_ fine. She kept holding on to what Wan and Alana said to her, that she can always fight and beat the darkness.

"Remember, what you're seeing is the past. Like I said, don't let that dark period of your life define you. Don't let it cause you to accept that that's who you are, because you're not that person anymore. And deep down, you never really were. Instead of letting it control us, we should learn from it and grow; be better," he sincerely told her and chuckled, "I guess that does mean it defines us, in a way that we learn from them; and we become a better person for it."

She smiled at him and told him he was right. She also told him that he reminded her of someone she knew back in the physical world; someone very close to her.

"This person sounds very wise," he remarked.

"He is… And he's probably worried sick waiting for me to come back," she laughed, "he's usually worried about me. And he never gives up, no matter what."

"So let's not give up too. And let's not keep this person waiting any longer, shall we?" Wan smiled at her, extending his hand.

She nodded, accepted his hand, and stood up. The first Avatar then cautiously told her that they would still have to go through a few more memories like the one they just saw, but he also gave her another good advice.

"Just remember, you can't get rid of those dark memories, but you can make it a smaller part of who you are," he said, "I saw all those other memories of yours as we were walking. You have a lot of good ones: of friends, people who care about you; and I saw you guys play in that…bending game thing. That was pretty cool."

She smiled and laughed. Those _were_ good times and she would never ever forget them.

"And I'm sure we'll see more of them. So come on. Let's go," Wan encouraged her.

As they left the garden and continued walking deeper into the forest, she told him not to worry, that she could handle it and was "ready now". And just like the first Avatar said, along the way, they saw many more good memories, such as when she first met Asami, when she finally airbent for the first time, and when she had fun hanging out with Tenzin and his family.

"Looks like you had a lot of fun in the city," Wan commented.

"Yeah, I did," she smiled, looking calmer now.

But that inadvertently reminded her of another time she was in Republic City and her smile, once again, slowly vanished, but she tried to fight it this time. _No! Not this time_ , she thought to herself, confident and determined. Remembering Taka gave her that push she needed to not give up and continue on. And even when the memory of her with Naga flashed, she tried to stay strong. She cried, but she stayed strong. They eventually stopped at another big area, this time a swamp area. Over by the water was a big white animal or creature, casually drinking.

"Look who came to visit you, Korra," Was spoke.

"Naga?" she spoke feeling all sorts of emotions stirring up.

And the polar bear dog turned around to greet her best friend in the world.

"Naga!" Korra shouted as she ran to her former pet and best friend, full crying.

Woof! Woof! She barked too as she ran. And the polar bear dog leaped on top of Korra and knocked her down. Korra was laughing and Naga was licking her non-stop.

"Whoa, okay, girl. I missed you too," she was still laughing and having fun; Korra eventually stopped her and sat up.

"I'm so sorry, Naga. I missed you a lot; every day," she apologized, touching her forehead to hers, starting to cry again, "don't worry, girl. I made him pay for what he did to us. He can't hurt anybody ever again. I promise."

Naga whimpered a bit and started licking her face again. Wan then came up to them and laughed, "I think that means she forgives you."

Korra continued to rub her best friend and kept hugging her. After a year or so, she finally got to see her again and apologize. And then another memory appeared and circled around them in a wave. In fact, it was that particular memory that she was just thinking about that was playing.

"Oh no. Not this," she quietly said to herself as she looked up.

Naga stayed by her side as as they viewed the memory, keeping her company once more like she used to do; and Korra smiled. Having her best friend in the whole world there by her side made her feel calmer and happier, ready to face the memory.

 **(Past)**

Korra was sleeping on a bench inside the boat after leaving the fishing town with Mala Ta'ak's servants. They've actually been sailing for quite a while and night already fell; the sun was ready to rise again to greet the new morning. One of the spirits, taking the form of an adult male human, Fel, but a bit distorted and dark, was driving the boat. The other one, in the form of an adult female (distorted too), Mal, was sitting on the very same bench Korra was sleeping on, watching her; watching her master's precious Avatar. She quite despised her, but accepted her, mostly on Mala Ta'ak's orders. They sailed for a few more hours before finally reaching their destination.

"We're here. Wake her up," Fel spoke.

And Mal did as her partner asked, deliberately shaking the Avatar quite hard and quickly, wanting to ruin her morning.

"Alright, alright! I'm up," Korra finally awoke and sat up.

The sun had already risen and was shining in her eyes as she tried to block it.

"Where are we?" she asked them.

Fel laughed quietly, sinister, "Welcome home, Avatar"

She stood up and walked to the window to see, "What are you talk—ing…" she stopped when she realized where they were.

And much to her shock, there it was in front of her outside the window: Republic City. In fact, they were just passing Avatar Aang's statue at that very moment. She felt a mixture of fear and worry, and a little excitement as well.

"What are we doing here?" she asked them, clenching her teeth a little.

"Our master humbly explained to us that one of the artifact pieces is somewhere in this city. So you, Avatar, are going to have to go and find it," Fel explained with a solemn and stern tone.

"You do realize that almost everyone in this city knows who I am, right? They'll recognize me as soon as we hit the docks," she reminded him.

"That's why we are not going to dock. We will stop here in open water and you, Avatar, will fly there on your own, quietly, of course," he explained to her, "and as for them recognizing you in the city, well… That's really your problem, isn't it?"

Korra looked at him with a sour and annoyed expression before getting ready. She almost airbent her glider to her hand, but then decided it best not to use it for this (it'd be pretty suspicious to see a waterbender with an airbender glider). Instead, she used another feat that Mala Ta'ak taught her. The Avatar stepped outside and closed her eyes to focus. She went into the Avatar State and her feet slowly started to levitate off the ground. Yes, the dark spirit taught her how to achieve an ancient airbending technique: the ability of flight; though she could only do it if she was in the Avatar State. Anyway, she flew off, low and close to the water to avoid sight, and eventually landed at an empty and quiet part of the docks—it was still early morning and not many people were awake yet. She landed and immediately rolled behind a crate just in case. Thankfully, there was only one worker there: a woman.

"Perfect," she said whispering.

As the worker had her back turned, Korra swooped in and knocked her out. The Avatar dragged her body inside the warehouse and took her jacket for disguise. Her pants too might be a giveaway, so she decided to change them too. She hid her hair inside the jacket, and put the cap and hoodie on. Finally, she took the worker's bag too, emptied them out, and stored her own clothes there. Now in civilian mode, she walked out of the warehouse and started making her way into the city.

Her heart was very heavy; she was finally back after all these months away. But she knew she couldn't ever say hello or even visit her old friends: Mako, Bolin, Tenzin… She was sad but tried to keep a neutral expression—though a tear or two ran down her cheek. As she tried to stay anonymous and hidden, putting her hands in her pockets, she was mentally searching for the artifact piece in the city. Thankfully there weren't _too_ many people yet, but there were people. She was walking through the city's marketplace when a few officers of the metalbending police force came by. Worried, Korra, as casually as she could, turned and stopped in front of a fruit stand. She pretended to look through the fruits—apples and bananas and such—while turning her head to peek a little and saw them about to pass by. But then, all of a sudden, she heard a voice beside her; a voice she thought she would never hear again.

"I'll take a dozen apples, please," the voice spoke.

She slowly and carefully looked to her right to see none other than her former airbending master, Tenzin. He looked quite sad. Needless to say, Korra was shocked and quickly turned her head back, scared; she felt really bad leaving him and hurting him; hurting all her friends. And she couldn't really leave yet until the police have completely walked past.

"Come on, come on," she spoke quietly to herself.

She was frozen out of worry, still holding an apple on her right hand. The airbender couldn't help but notice the armband she was wearing; he felt like he had seen it before somewhere.

"Hey. That armband…" he suddenly spoke.

Korra was sweating at this point, her heart pounding in her chest and her eyes wide open.

"From the Southern Water Tribe, right?" he continued talking.

She cleared her throat and spoke with a deep voice, slowly putting the apple back down, "Uh, yeah."

"Hmph. Yeah, an old student of mine used to wear that. _Still_ ," he shouted a little (and cried a bit too), "she _still_ wears those. I haven't given up yet."

Listening to him talk made Korra even sadder and she got angry at herself even more. Right at that moment, the Avatar really just wanted to drop the hoodie down and tell her former mentor who she really is. And just as she was about to, her head turned suddenly and sharply. She had picked up the piece's energy signature and knew where to go.

"Uhmm, I'm sorry. I have to go," she told him in a rough voice, holding the hoodie forward with her right hand to conceal her face.

And off she went, leaving her former mentor in his state of sadness. Korra cried profusely as she was running away and felt her heart shatter.

 **(Present)**

Back at the Gathering, present Korra was crying too as she watched and remembered all that.

"I'm so sorry, Tenzin," she spoke.

"Korra… Are you…?" Wan asked.

"I'm fine, Wan," she said still crying, "like I said, I'm ready to face it. I'm just…letting it out."

Naga too licked her to help make her feel better. She laughed, "I'm okay, girl"

"Must've been very hard for you… Returning back to the city like that after all those months with Mala Ta'ak," the first Avatar commented, "and running into your old mentor and couldn't tell him what's been going on with you."

Korra only nodded, wiping the tears away. And they continued watching.

 **(Past)**

Eventually the Avatar reached her destination: a big industrial factory belonging to Future Industries. She was still wiping tears from her eyes, but then her eyes glowed bright blue.

"Focus, Korra. Your old friends should be of no concern to you. Forget about them. They will become irrelevant soon enough along with everyone else," the dark spirit commanded her.

"Yes, master," she spoke obediently, forced to stop the tears.

She then entered the compound. The courtyard was filled with steel and machinery. Again, there weren't many people yet; mostly the workers themselves, but they were all inside the factory at the time; she entered. Inside, she pulled her hoodie down and threw her cap to the ground before announcing herself. The workers stopped what they were doing and noticed who their unexpected visitor was.

"Is that…Avatar Korra?" – "No, it can't be." – "Yeah, it is her." – "But she disappeared a few months ago."

A murmur happened among them and a few of them got closer, but Korra just stood there at the entrance, motionless; her eyes still growing bright blue. One of the workers got close enough and waved his hand in front of her face, but still she didn't react.

"What's wrong with her?" one of them asked.

"Should we call somebody?" spoke another.

"No witnesses, my Avatar. Kill them all," Mala Ta'ak ordered her.

And without hesitation, she plunged her right hand through the worker's chest, instantly killing him. Korra smiled a sinister smile. Screams and panic followed forth. Korra immediately threw the body aside and earth and metalbent the floors, creating a wave that threw them all aside or upwards. She followed it with firebending, airbending, and even metalbent the walls to crush a few. Within those few seconds, most of them were dead; a few were injured and she quickly finished them off too. She made her way to the part of the factory where they kept coals and steels for processing, killing anyone she encountered, as per her master's order: no witnesses. But one of the workers, badly injured, managed to crawl and activate the alarm. As it sounded and rang loud, Korra bloodbent the worker up, twisting him a little before thrusting him to a broken iron bar that was sticking out, impaling him.

At another part of the city, inside Future Industries headquarters, Asami Sato was sitting down with her boyfriend, Mako, having just finished her morning breakfast, though still sipping her morning tea. They tried to enjoy it, but their minds were still fixed on finding a missing Korra. They too would never give up until they find her and Asami used every resource she had as CEO of Future Industries to help with that.

"I know you're trying, Mako. But enjoying your life a little doesn't mean you've given up," Asami tried to calm him.

"I know. It's just… It's been, what, nine months and we still haven't found even a _trace_ of Korra," he said.

"I wanna find her just as much as you, Mako. Just as much as Tenzin and Bolin and everyone. And we will," she told him, "but we're no use to anyone if we're exhausted and depressed."

The firebender chuckled and remarked that she was right, as always. Suddenly, one of her staff members burst into the room and informed the CEO that the alarm had just been rung at their factory downtown.

"Well, looks like I gotta go. See you soon, sweetie," the police officer gave her a kiss on the forehead and headed off, to which she smiled and told him that she's coming with.

He wanted to argue against it, but really had no reason to. And so together they both went.

Back at the factory, it was already a massacre. Korra killed off everyone who was unfortunate enough to be present at the time, but was still searching for the artifact piece. She threw all the coals and rock away and flipped every table to that end. The Avatar attuned herself to its energy signature once again and finally located it at a far table next to a vat of molten steel. It was smallish in size, enough to fit her hand. She stowed it in her bag and was ready to make her escape.

"In here! Oh spirits. They're all dead!" she could hear voices behind her in the other room.

"Dead? No offense, sir, but they look like they were torn apart," another one remarked.

And so she went another way and headed towards the back exit. In the loading area, there was a huge open door to the right where the trucks would usually enter from and unload their stuff, but Korra chose to head for the smaller door in front of her; there were two workers there, but she made quick work of them. As she reached for the door, she was stopped by a fire blast that hit the wall beside the door and a voice from behind.

"Mako?" Korra spoke, snapping out of the trance.

She turned around to greet her old friend. "It is you, and Asami," she whispered.

Needless to say, both Mako and Asami were shocked to see their friend, whom they've been searching for all this time with no success, standing before them. Worse, she seemed to be the one causing all the disturbance.

"K—Korra?" the engineer spoke, feeling a mixture of happiness and confusion, "is that really you?"

"Did you… Did you kill all these people?" the firebender inquired.

The Avatar didn't know what to say. She was stuttering, trying to reach out to them, but it was too late. Mala Ta'ak returned and dark Korra took over again. She smirked and darkly laughed.

"Yes I did, Mako. And it was fun," she had an expression that screamed insane excitement, "and now it's your turn."

"Korra, wait. We're your friends, remember?" Asami tried to reach out to her to no avail.

"I don't have any friends," she told her, turning serious.

"Get back, Asami!" Mako yelled.

But Korra quickly bloodbent them; and immediately they felt the effects, their bodies becoming immobile, their limbs twisting and turning like a ragdoll.

"Ko—Korra. You're a… A bloodbender?" a shocked Asami asked.

They groaned and moaned in pain, helplessly suspended in mid-air. But actually, Korra was fighting it. She was always trying to fight her dark self, but this time, knowing that it was her best friends' lives at stake—and after what she experienced with Naga before—she fought hard. She understood full well the feeling of losing a best friend and wasn't gonna let Mala Ta'ak take another one from her again. The Avatar was shaking, struggling with herself; fighting it on the inside; sweat rolling down her face.

"What are you doing, Korra?!" her dark half screamed to her.

"I… Wo-won't… Le-let… Yo-you… Kill… My fr-friends," she was struggling hard to fight the darkness, but her determination was strong.

Finally, she was able to break free for a moment, and in that moment of clarity, Korra lowered her friends down and spared them—though they immediately fell unconscious. She could hear footsteps; the others were on their way. She immediately made a break for the door to escape. But stopped for a second to whisper an apology to them.

"I'm so sorry, Asami."

She then exited out the door and once outside, entered the Avatar State and flew up fast to clear blue skies. A few of the officers that were coming in from that area vaguely saw someone flying off, but fortunately they didn't get a clear description of her face and didn't realize it was Korra. Though they opened their mouths wide and stared at the person as he/she flew away, amazed at the sight. None of them had ever seen a person fly by themselves without any tools or devices before, not even an airbender—but that was the most likely explanation in their minds.

 _What was that?_ they all thought to themselves.

But they disregarded it quickly and hurried inside to assist. Meanwhile, Korra flew fast, straight back to the boat that was waiting for her at the same spot. She basically crash landed onto the deck, tired and distracted. The two spirits phased through window and wall to greet her and welcome her back.

"Had fun, _Avatar_?" the female spirit asked, mocking her a bit.

Korra looked angrily at her, but quickly shook it off and stood up. She took the piece out of the bag and gave it to Fel.

"Here. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to rest," she said to him; and the Avatar headed inside and into one of the rooms they had to do just that.

She crashed immediately onto the bed face first and rested. But she could still vaguely hear the two spirits talking outside her room.

"One piece closer to the master's release," Fel said.

"And then, destruction of the human world," Mal added.

 **(Present)**

"Even then, you were strong enough to overcome the darkness in you," Wan commented.

"It was only because they were my best friends. The thought of killing them… I couldn't let that happen," told Korra, crossing her arms as if cold.

He grabbed her shoulder again, "And that's why you're not the dark person you think you are."

She chuckled sadly, "I still killed all those other people."

Wan sighed a little. He knew it was complicated. But still, he encouraged Korra to keep fighting…and keep going.

"These...'memories'. They're showing us things that I don't remember. That I couldn't possibly know," she continued, "how is that possible?"

"Well, the forest doesn't just show us our memories, it also shows us how our lives affected others, especially those close to us, and how they reacted. Because those matter too; what they did in response to the choices you've made in your life," he explained, "just because we don't see or know it, other people _are_ affected by our lives, in both good and bad ways, and this place shows us the most important ones. It's like a judgment of our lives, I guess."

She nodded, "Yeah, Okay. That makes sense, I guess."

She eventually shook it off and accepted it; she _accepted_ it. Because Wan was right, and Taka too, she thought. The past is the past and the only thing they can and _should_ do is accept it and move forward; learn from their past and be better for it.

"I'm okay, Wan," she told him, "I told you, I'm ready."

The first Avatar believed her and smiled. He could see it.

"Well, it's time to continue," he said as the memory wave dissipated.

Korra jumped on top of Naga and told Wan to do the same, to which he did so, smiling.

"Let's go, girl!" the former Avatar shouted, smiling wide.

And Naga moved and jumped in the water, wading through it fast to get to the other side. Once there, they exited the swamp and Korra slowed Naga down. And they continued their journey through the forest. As before, bits and pieces of her life flashed around them; happier ones.

"Hey, Korra. Why were those particular memories chosen? The ones we just saw. Are they special to you?" he asked her.

"If by 'special' you mean emotional and dark, then yeah. And because they were strong memories and… Memoried I've been avoiding, I guess; meeting someone like Kimo—and leaving him when he needed help—and going back to Republic City and worse, running into…them while I was there. And nearly killing them too. It was all too much. I haven't even told them yet, you know, about that."

"Wait. They don't remember?"

"No. 'Cause, I kind of…wiped their memories before I left. When I was lowering them down, remember? I don't know. I thought that it wouldn't do them any good to remember me like that. And with my situation back then… It wouldn't have worked out."

"But, wouldn't it have been better if they knew you were alive and out there somewhere? So they could at least try and help you."

"I had a moment of clarity, _only_ a moment, and even _then_ I was fighting hard with her…my darker self," she explained her feelings, "I had to make a quick decision and I did; and I stand by it. It wouldn't have helped them to worry even more about me. I didn't want to make them any sadder than I already had."

Wan didn't ask any more questions after that. Like he himself said, the past is the past. And besides, it wouldn't have made her feel better anyway. In fact, it might make her feel worse. So he stopped talking and just tried to enjoy the journey. Eventually, they reached another open area, similar to a grassland or prairie. Korra stopped Naga all of a sudden and Wan bumped into her a little.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

But she didn't answer. She was staring curiously at someone, or something, in the distance. The person-shaped figure was just standing there, or maybe walking slowly. The bright light from the sun was shining full force here without a canopy to block some of it and was obscuring their vision.

"What's that?" Korra whispered to Wan.

"I don't know," he replied.

She took the reins and Naga walked closer to it, slowly, but even as they did, the figure still looked vague, like not solid or shifting in and out.

"Koooooorrrrraaaaa!" the figure seemingly yelled.

But it was strange. It was as if time slowed down at that point. It started shifting rapidly again and disappeared for a moment. The two former Avatars looked bemused and cautious. She got off of Naga and told her to stay with Wan. It then suddenly reappeared again, but clearer this time and not slow-moving.

"I think I'm here. Guys, I think I made it," the figure spoke.

And instantly Korra recognized the voice. "Taka?" she spoke.

And it _was_ her sweetie coming to her rescue, revealed when he turned around responding to her voice.

"Korra," he said very relieved; and he ran to her as fast as he could, as did Korra.

"Taka!" she shouted as she ran.

As they met up, they gave each other a big hug, tears pouring out of her eyes; happy tears. He too was happy and glad that she was safe. Wan smiled at the sight, as did Naga—having already gotten off—and did not follow her yet. He didn't want to interrupt their moment.

"Taka… How did you get here?" she asked, confused.

"I have no idea," he laughed, "I just followed your friend Kimo's instructions; the energybender."

"Oh, I love that guy," she said as she hugged him again.

Taka then noticed the guy standing a few feet away behind her with a polar bear dog beside him and wondered who he was. Korra signaled and shouted to them to come over so she can introduce them.

"Taka, this is Avatar Wan: the first Avatar."

The energybender was surprised, but excited to finally meet the very first Avatar.

"Oh wow," he spoke, "it's an honor to meet you, sir. Um, Avatar Wan, sir."

"Please, just 'Wan' is fine," he told him.

"Wan… Right. This is so cool," Taka was smiling quite happily—too much perhaps.

"And this is my best friend, Naga," Korra kneeled down and patted and rubbed her on the head.

Taka's expression turned a bit sad and unsure.

"You mean… _The_ Naga? The one you… Um…" he stopped himself.

"Yeah. The very same," she replied, "don't worry, Taka. I've…moved on from that. It's okay now. We're okay." She was happy and smiling.

Taka too then smiled her, happy that she found a way to make peace with her past.

"Well, looks like it's time for you to go, Korra," Wan told her, "I guess this is goodbye, for now at least."

Naga whimpered again a little, not wanting her to go, and jumped on Korra again, licking her face endlessly.

She laughed a very happy laugh, "Okay, girl. Stop. Haha."

"It's okay, Korra. I'll look after her," Wan promised her, "we'll look after each other."

"Thanks, Wan. But what do you mean I have to go?" she asked, still on the ground with Naga.

"Your friend's here now. He's an energybender, right? That means he can take you back," Wan explained.

"Yeah, that's why I'm here," Taka said.

"But what about going through my memories and all that?" Korra asked Wan, still on the ground with Naga, rubbing her ears and neck.

"Yeah, well… Maybe I stretched it a little," the first Avatar chuckled, "showing you your memories was mostly about getting you to accept your past, move forward, and be the person I _know_ you are. Your friend showing up to help you is the best opportunity for you to get out of here quick, so I think you should take it. Besides, I can see that you're ready now."

She smiled at him and laughed softly. "Well, it looks like this is goodbye, girl," she teared up a little again, happy tears though, "I'm gonna miss you soo much. But you're gonna be okay. And I'm gonna be okay too, so don't you worry about me, okay? I've got great friends like you to look after me too." She whispered a bit after, "But you know what? The Spirit World and the physical world are connected now; the portals are open. That means I get to visit you soon. Now you be good, okay? Stay with Wan and he'll take care of you. Or rather, you'll take care of him, huh, girl? Just like you did me." She winked at that last part.

Woof! Woof! Naga barked before letting her go, sticking her tongue out casually.

"Thanks for all your help, Wan," she said after wiping herself, "I won't forget what you taught me."

"It was no problem, Avatar Korra," he bowed to her, bidding her farewell.

She bowed back before grabbing Taka's hand and they both waved goodbye to Wan and Naga one final time. Korra grabbed Taka's other hand and they faced each other, "Are you ready?" Taka asked her, "I've also healed your body, as best as I could anyway, so you should be fine once I get you back to your body. Maybe a little headache or something like that."

"That's great," she remarked sarcastically before laughing. "Alright, let's go."

He then focused and soft sparks and light sparkled and hovered around them. Eventually, they began to vanish slowly and shift away.

And like that, they were back in the physical world, back at the airship. Korra woke up, struggling with her eyes a little from the light; it was still a little jarring for her going back to her body. She did after all just spend an hour or so walking around in that place with no body.

"Welcome back, Korra," Kimo spoke to her.

"Kimo?" she said.

Everyone was excited—they had been waiting by her side all this time without sleeping or resting. They all welcomed her back and Asami immediately hugged her, half-crying (everyone was half-crying at this point).

"It's okay, Asami," she said to her, "I'm back… And I'm ready."


	11. Ep11: The Gate (Darkness Falls, Part 1)

"This is ridiculous. We can't just sit here and do nothing while she's dying away," spoke a worried Tenzin.

"I'm afraid that's all any of us can do: wait. It's up to him now to bring her back," Kimo told the airbender, referring to Taka.

Taka was still busy focusing on healing an unconscious Korra's body, laying his hand on her stomach and also focusing on keeping her spirit intact. Just like Tenzin, everyone else could only wait and watch in worry. Asami was right next to Taka, crying and hoping. Tenzin felt confused and a little useless; and couldn't stand waiting to see if Korra was gonna die or not. So the airbender decided to step outside for a bit to organize his thoughts. He noticed the guardians waiting as well and told them that he would like to talk with them outside. Nadia and Satoshi agreed—they were starting to worry too.

Tenzin looked quite distraught and confused, and he just wanted them to explain to him what's actually going on. And so the two guardians explained as best as they could about who they are, the elemental keys, and Ner'gal; and the consequences should he be released from his imprisonment.

"So he's going to destroy the world too?" the airbender inquired, "why does everything want to destroy the world?"

"We assume so. It's the most likely outcome," Satoshi answered, "actually, Korra never did tell us much about this spirit. Only that he was extremely dangerous."

Tenzin sighed and rubbed his eyes. Everything seemed to be falling apart again. But they couldn't lose hope. The priority then was making sure they rescue and save Korra from death; they could deal with the other stuff after; one step at a time. With that, they rejoined the others inside the room. Everybody was still worried waiting and Taka was still busy healing Korra with Kimo right beside him.

"Hey. Hey, I think I found her," Taka suddenly spoke, "but it's not very clear. Hold on, I'm gonna try again. Everyone quiet, I need to focus."

And everyone held their breath with Asami covering her mouth with her hands, scared, waiting to see how it would turn out.

"I think I'm here. Guys, I think I made it," the energybender spoke again, his eyes still glowing white.

Then Korra's body began to tremble a little. The scars and wounds she had sustained were healing and her body seemed less pale and dead. She stopped moving for a second before finally opening her eyes, struggling a bit from the light, trying to avoid it.

"Welcome back, Korra," Kimo spoke to her.

"Kimo?" she said.

Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief and could finally relax after all that tense waiting. They all welcomed her back and Asami immediately hugged her, half-crying (everyone was half-crying at this point).

"It's okay, Asami," she said to her, "I'm back. And I'm ready."

"Oh, thank the spirits," the engineer said, still hugging.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep inside a dense forest in the middle of nowhere—a place no one would ever go to—was an open area (not too big nor too small) where no trees grew. But step a few meters closer—like stepping into a different place, as if passing through a very thin glass or mirror—and there it lied, a broken structure (similar to a castle structure). Parts of it had already crumbled and the ruin itself was pretty decrepit. Though it had a somewhat functioning gate and it _was_ closed. And if one were to step inside, they would find another open area—similar to a courtyard—with nothing in it. A few dirt and grass lied sparsely here and there, more signs of the ruin's decrepit state such as moss growing on the walls, and at the end of it all was another gate that would exit the ruin and out to the other edge of the open area (the border between it and the forest, if you will). In the middle of the courtyard was a decorative circle mural on the floor, quite big and with many colors adorning it. Though it too showed signs of aging and the image was already distorted and not clear anymore, more at some parts. From this middle point, if one were to come through the previous gate, to the left was a door, closed and half-broken. Even if it were to open, it would lead nowhere as the that part of the castle had already been destroyed. To the right of the mural was just a wall. There were a few stairs all around, but again, as much of the castle has already been destroyed or crumbled away (as evident by the amount of debris scattered around), those led to nowhere.

Back at the airship, Korra was still getting used to being alive again, doing a couple of stretches, runs, jumps, and handstands outside at the deck—she tumbled a few times during the course as she was still getting used to having a physical body again; the sensations were quite different when she was a spirit. The others, needless to say, were quite impressed with her already up and about after just waking up from death—or near-death.

"Korra, maybe you might want to take it easy a little? You just nearly died after all," Asami told her, staring at her still moving.

She eventually stopped, tired, and told them not to worry and that she was fine. In fact, she was better than fine; she faced her demons and accepted her past, and was ready to go forward to finish what she started long ago. She was wearing her sleeveless undershirt for the exercise and different pants, for obvious reasons.

"Just trying to get used to it again," she said.

"Well, I hope you already are, 'cause those criminals still have all four of the keys, remember?" Nadia reminded her.

"Right. Just let me go change and let's discuss it at the bridge," the former Avatar told them before leaving for her room.

The rest did as she said and went up to the bridge, except for Taka who went with his sweetie. And the team still hasn't forgotten about the truth; Bolin still felt a little angry, but has calmed down a bit already after what she had just been through; Mako was more unsure, feeling ambivalent just as Tenzin was, while Asami didn't really care. It wasn't Korra's fault for doing what she had to do. That's not to say the engineer didn't think about it. On the contrary, she thought about it a lot. But she understood the _why_ , and whatever happened, she will always be their friend and Asami was ready to help and follow her once again to save the world.

The two remaining guardians, Nadia and Satoshi, were pretty indifferent about it (they felt pretty awkward and out of place in the team, but Korra needed them, so they were there for her). They understood the situation and never judged her for it, as did Masaru and Kimo. Both Masaru and Taka were personally there with her, witnessing her struggles firsthand, and Kimo had experienced it personally through his relationship with the spirits. And Masaru can seem too calm at times and jokes about everything often, but he can get serious when he needs to, especially for his best friend.

Anyway, reaching the bridge, the team gathered around and sat down at the table and waited for the former Avatar to come join them. As they waited, Bolin, not meaning to, brought up the matter of Korra's recent past and again it caused quite a bit of discomfort on the team. Nobody spoke a word and contemplated in silence.

Back at her room, Korra had just arrived and was getting her clothes out while Taka stood by the doorway.

"Do you mind?" she gave him a look.

"Right," he spoke quietly, looking quite serious.

He told her that he wanted to talk to her afterwards before closing the door and waiting outside.

"Alright," she said.

After a few seconds, the door opened and she called him back in, clothed and ready.

"You're still wearing that?" he commented.

"Yeah, so?" she replied.

"Isn't it, you know, dirty or whatever?"

"That's why I washed it," she smiled.

"You did? When?"

"Just now. Did you know this airship has a laundry room? I did it before my exercise," she explained.

"Well, anyway… How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"I feel great, actually. Better than I've been feeling lately, that's for sure," she did seem quite happy.

He smiled, but couldn't help wonder what caused this happy change.

"My trip to the Gathering; that Spirit World place we were in. It helped put some things in perspective for me," she told him.

"Avatar Wan helped you out, huh?"

"Yeah, he did. He really did," she gave a sincere smile.

He then suddenly hugged her tightly.

"You almost died. I thought I'd lost you," he spoke, "I don't know what we would've done…"

"You guys would've done just fine," she tried to speak, a little constricted, "you have Nadia and Satoshi here to help you out."

He let her go, "Still, we're all really happy that you made it back. It wouldn't be Team Korra without Korra, would it?"

She laughed softly. But the former Avatar couldn't help noticing that a few of them were a bit… "Not happy looking," as she put it. And Taka looked a little worried.

"Sweetie, what's going on?" she said with a jokingly serious look.

He sighed and finally told her what happened while she was away: that he had to tell them the truth about her and what happened during her one-year disappearance. Needless to say, Korra was surprised and looked a little sad.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. But you were gone. You disappeared _again_ without a trace and we didn't know what to do," he tried to explain.

But, she regained her smile and hugged him, "Oh, it's alright, sweetie. You did what you had to do," she released him, "besides, it _is_ time that they know the truth. They're my friends and I shouldn't keep this from them any longer."

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

"I am. It's time," she answered.

With that, they both closed the door and made their way to the bridge to join the others. It was quite a long way, but they enjoyed the walk. It's funny how the simplest things can make people the happiest. She took his hand as they walked, the first time they ever did that in a while.

"When this is all over, let's go on a proper date. Just you and me," she spoke, "we'll go anywhere. Just get up and go."

"I would love that, actually," he smiled to her.

Meanwhile, the team was still busy discussing amongst themselves, trying to figure out how to break it to Korra, or whether they can still trust her or not. Of course, Asami, Kimo, and the Guardians stopped them at every turn; and the two warriors, and even Kimo, told them what Korra went through during that one year, during her dark service. Of course, after all was said and done, the team felt pretty bad, though they were still unsure.

"Believe me, if Korra could've gotten away, she would've," continued the Guardians, "but she was bound to him. And she did horrible things, yes, but she made up for it, and is _still_ making up for it to this day. Every day she tries to do good and be a good person."

"And more importantly," Kimo added, "she's your friend. You've all known her a long time; hung out together and had fun together. If she was some stranger to you all, then maybe… Like how the people of the Republic have been treating her. But you're not; you know her."

They then stopped and tried to do as he said: to stop judging their friend as if they understood fully the case at hand. It was then that Korra and Taka arrived, smiling of all things, and casually sat down and asked,

"Hey, guys. So how's everyone…doing?"

They continued to remain silent for a while, but remembered what Kimo had said.

"We're good, Korra," someone finally spoke, which was Mako, scratching his head and smiled thoughtfully, "and uhh, we're glad you're okay too."

"Definitely. We don't know what we would've done," Asami added.

"You guys would've been fine," the former Avatar told her, "that's why I've been thinking… It's time you guys knew the truth."

Everyone held their breath in anticipation, curious of what really happened. And she started talking, feeling anxious or nervous. As she began, the team stopped her mid-sentence and told her that she didn't need to continue. They explained that they've accepted what happened and could finally understand the situation on her terms.

"And frankly, we don't really feel like we wanna know anymore," Mako said.

"You're our friend, Korra. And that will never change," Tenzin added.

"And we trust you, all the way. Just like we always have," added Asami, "friends to the end."

"Yeah. I guess the shock really got to me. It sounds like you were a completely different person while you were away. I guess I didn't wanna believe that," Bolin sort of apologized and smiled thoughtfully to her.

Korra was more than glad to hear those words from her friends. A great burden felt like it had been lifted from her shoulders and she didn't have to hide anymore, at least from them. Taka smiled too, happy that everything worked out.

"So you don't need to tell us what happened, Korra, if you don't want to," Tenzin spoke once more, "we trust you. We only ask that you trust us too and keep no more secrets from us."

She happily nodded and agreed. It wasn't just that. Her trip to the Gathering and her meeting with Wan also helped her cope with her past and accept them, to let them go. She now felt like she could truly move forward. And they were all there to help her do so.

"Okay," she spoke.

"Alright, then. My apologies, but now that everything's good with you guys, we _do_ still have a problem to take care of," Nadia interrupted them, "those criminals still hold all four keys, so we have to assume they're heading for the Gate even as we speak."

"Alright. So where is this 'Gate'?" the master airbender inquired.

"Hard to tell. The Gate "moves" around. It doesn't stay in one place indefinitely," Korra explained.

"Well, that's a good idea, actually," Masaru spoke, "so how are we supposed to find it, then?"

"You don't. That was the point," Satoshi said with a little humor.

"What do you mean it moves around?" Mako asked, bemused.

"The Gate and its surrounding land shifts between our world and the Spirit World periodically; and the location changes every time: it's random. Only someone holding all four keys together can determine its current location."

"Well, that's awesome," Mako remarked.

"It's clever actually," Asami too, "ensures that it remains hidden."

"Oh, it gets better," the former Avatar continued, "the Gate is invisible to everyone _except_ only to whomever holds all four keys."

"So, in short, we'll never find it," Tenzin said with a sigh.

"No, we will. Well, _I_ will," Korra stood up, "I'm the one constant, remember? Being the Avatar and all. I'm like a crossroad, connecting all things. Just give me a few minutes."

She smiled at Taka before going off to meditation. As she began, her spirit connected to the Aether, searching for the Gate's current location. It was like floating in space, except everything was blueish instead of black; bright and moving or flowing. Korra was then in a deep forest, still floating, the tree canopies were quite high and filtered most of the sunlight. She levitated to an open clearing and, like a clearing haze, the Gate appeared before her; it looked like a broken castle, not too big nor too wide.

"There you are," she spoke, "but where is this?"

She flew higher up to see what land it stood on.

"It's in the Earth Kingdom," she figured out, "we have to hurry."

The former Avatar ceased her meditation and quickly informed the team.

"Alright, then. Earth Kingdom, here we come," Asami said.

"It's in the North, the forests between Republic City and the Northern Air Temple," Korra told them.

"Those forests are deep and thick," Tenzin commented, "it'll be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"Not with me on your team," the former Avatar smiled.

"Very well. Then let us proceed. We don't have much time," Satoshi asserted.

Asami nodded and went to tell the pilots their new heading. They flew as fast as the airship will allow, and the pilots definitely cranked up the engine on Asami's orders, but it would still take them some time and the team took the opportunity to discuss and come up with a plan.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Mako asked.

"Simple, we take out the bad guys before they can do bad things," Masaru remarked.

"What _is_ their plan, anyway? What is this 'Gate'? Something about another dark spirit?" the firebender inquired.

"The Gate is where I locked Ner'gal away…forever. Or at least, I _hoped_ it would," Korra explained, "I should've destroyed the keys."

"Why didn't you?" Asami was curious.

"I couldn't. It's…the 'law', you know," she tried to explain, but everyone except for the Guardians was confused, "it's complicated. I'll explain later. The point is, with all four keys together, those criminals can now unlock the Gate and set the dark spirit free."

"Who is this 'Ner'gal'?" Tenzin asked.

"The Spirit of Death and Mala Ta'ak's most trusted servant. Or at least, he was," Kimo spoke.

"Ner'gal tried to overthrow Mala Ta'ak, so the First Spirit banished him. And I locked him away," Korra continued.

"Under Mala Ta'ak's orders?" Tenzin assumed.

"No. Mala Ta'ak couldn't care less about him. The coup attempt was a total failure. Mala Ta'ak's powers were far beyond his and the First Spirit banished Ner'gal to the wilds, where he would see Mala Ta'ak's rise to power and rule both worlds. That was his punishment," the former Avatar explained.

"But Korra thought that Ner'gal was too dangerous to let roam free, so she asked for my help to seal him away, without Mala Ta'ak's knowledge, of course," Kimo added.

Again, everyone at the table was surprised, but at this point, they knew it was all true.

"But now that Mala Ta'ak's gone, there's nobody left to challenge Ner'gal. He'll be the most powerful spirit. And he wants to sit on Mala Ta'ak's throne and rub it in the First Spirit's face, now that he's locked up," Korra continued.

"Right. So again, what's the plan?" Mako reiterated with a smile on his face.

"We stop them from unlocking the Gate, at all costs," Korra replied firmly.

"Uhm… What if they succeed in unlocking the Gate and Ner'gal is set free?" Bolin raised his hand and asked.

"If Ner'gal is set free…" the former Avatar sighed, "if he's set free, then I'll take care of him. But I want you guys to stay clear in that case."

"Did you just hit your head, Korra? We already agreed, we're with you all the way," Asami reasserted.

After a brief moment of pondering, the former Avatar agreed and nodded. Having faced Ner'gal before, Korra knew very well what the death spirit is capable of. Even with her Avatar powers back then, she still needed Kimo's help to bring him down ('course, she mainly needed his help to suppress Mala Ta'ak's influence temporarily). But now, she wasn't the Avatar anymore and her powers are significantly weaker. But then again, she thought, "I guess that's what having a team is for." But if anything went wrong, it could mean the death of all her closest friends. But if everything she went through—becoming dark, serving a dark spirit, killing her best friend, nearly dying, and meeting Wan at the Gathering—have taught her anything, it's that she doesn't have to be alone and _isn't_. Her friends are there for her, to the end.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go check on where we are. Be back in a few minutes," Asami told the team before going off to the pilot.

Kimo stood up and talked with Korra privately.

"I know what you're thinking, but you're not the Avatar anymore. We need everyone's help on this," he told her, "the two of us won't be enough anymore."

"I know. If it's one thing I've learned, it's that my friends are always here for me," she asserted, "but you know very well what Ner'gal's capable of."

"I do. Exactly why we need the team's help; _your_ team, Korra," he affirmed, "and no one's gonna die today. I won't let it happen."

"At least we have two energybenders now. We'll need both of you."

"Yeah. Your boyfriend's a pretty good bender," he smiled.

"Yeah, he is," the former Avatar blushed a little.

Meanwhile, at the Gate's outskirts, the four criminals stood in front of the energy shield and presented all four keys. The shield accepted and dispelled, allowing full visibility. "Finally," Zaheer spoke smiling, "the fruit of our labor. Soon this world will tremble and the United Republic of Nations will be no more." They entered the structure.

"Interesting. I'd thought there would be guardians here too," the airbender commented.

"Well, it was frustratingly difficult to find this place—and without the all four keys, it's actually impossible, right? So I see why the Avatar thought there would be no need for guardians here," P'Li mentioned.

"Ha ha. That idiot. It'll be her downfall," Ming-Hua remarked.

Back at the airship, it took the team about an hour or so before finally arriving at the clouds above the forest. Looking down upon it, the team saw that it seemed deeper and more lush than the stories suggested.

"We're really gonna trek through all of that?" Mako did not feel like doing that.

"Not _all_ of it. But we do have to get down there and walk if we wanna find it. I need to be as close as possible to be able to sense its presence," Korra told him.

"And obviously, the airship can't land anywhere down there since it's too thick. So yeah, Mako, we're gonna trek through that," Asami added.

"Perfect," the firebender commented.

"Trekking through forests and dense jungles… Just another day at the office, huh?" Masaru unsheathed his sword with a gesture.

"Let's get moving. We're wasting time," Tenzin remarked.

"Agreed," Korra grabbed Tenzin's hand and absorbed his airbending before retrieving her glider.

"That still feels a little strange," the master airbender looked at his hand.

"Let's go," she said.

They all met up at the outer deck. It was a hot sunny day, but at their altitude, the air was pretty cool and the wind was breezy; it felt nice.

"Alright. Is everyone ready?" Korra asked the team.

"Ready," they all answered.

The former Avatar gave a sort of short speech before they took off, "Before we go… Look, you guys weren't there. Ner'gal, he's… He's very powerful and very dangerous in his own right. So please be careful, all of you. And don't die."

"Don't worry, Korra. We'll watch each other's back," Tenzin asserted.

"And we're not kids nor first time benders either. We'll be fine. Trust us," Mako smiled and reassured her.

"And besides, we're gonna stop them before they can even get close to this 'Gate' thing or whatever," Bolin added.

"Alright, then. I just have one last thing to say: last one down is a stinky bison," Korra taunted them before jumping over the edge gleefully.

The team ran to the railing and witnessed her unsheathing her glider and flew down gracefully.

"Riighhttt… Um, how are _we_ supposed to get down there?" Mako inquired, "we're not airbenders."

"Right," Tenzin sighed.

Meanwhile, Korra was having a blast flying above the forest, the wind speeding across her face again. At the same time, she was pinging for the location of the hidden Gate, flying in a big circle. She eventually landed at a spot just below where the airship was hovering, landing on a high tree branch so as to see above the canopy. Then, there was a faint shouting or screaming. It came from above; Bolin was carried by Tenzin on his glider, but was terrified and screamed a lot causing Tenzin unable to focus on his flying. The two eventually landed—sort of—hitting a tree branch or two before falling down. It looked a little painful. Mako followed them, using his firebending to control his descent, landing on the forest floor safely. Then, Taka and Masaru came sliding down on an energy construct Taka created to carry them down safely—though Masaru was screaming as well. Finally, Kimo and Asami came down on another of Future Industries patented inventions called the "Copter Pack": a device carried on one's back that gives the ability of flight and allows for simple maneuverability through the skies. It was compact and could fold itself for ease-of-carry.

"Asami! Why didn't you tell me you had that?" Bolin yelled at her.

"Well, I was about to get everybody one, but you all went off straight away," the engineer explained.

Bolin stammered. He didn't have a reply as, like she said, it was his fault for going off right away. After their various "landings", the team gathered together at where Korra's tree was. A few of them were stretching and exercising their limbs after that ordeal—they were feeling pretty sore—as they stood beneath the treetop awaiting the former Avatar's descent.

"Uhh, Tenzin? Sorry about…uhm, you know…" Bolin tried to apologize.

"It's alright, Bolin," the airbender sighed.

Korra then suddenly dropped down, rustling a branch or two; a few leaves flew down with her. She gave them the news:

"Well, this forest really _is_ everything you guys mentioned: long, wide, and deep," she told them, "but at least I have a general direction. We need to head that way." Her hand pointed further into the forest.

"I'll notify the airship," Asami mentioned, "I think they should just stay right where they are and conserve fuel as much as possible."

"Alright, then. Let's not waste any more time— Uhm, where are the guardians?" Tenzin remembered.

But both Nadia and Satoshi were already ahead of them, or rather above them on two of the tree branches ahead, signaling to them to hurry up. And their trek began with Korra leading in front, continuously searching and feeling for the Gate's presence.

"Hey, Tenzin? How's Kya and Bumi?" Korra asked him.

"Oh, they're fine; visiting mom at the Southern Water Tribe. It's been a while since they've all seen each other, so I thought it would be good," the master airbender answered, "and besides, if what we're doing is really as dangerous as you say, then I wanna keep them as far away from it as possible."

"That's a good idea."

The team continued to walk and trek through the forest for what felt like forever.

"At least half-an-hour or so," Asami mentioned.

"It sure feels longer than that," Masaru remarked.

Korra had been leading them in all manner of directions and paths, taking them through a dell and up a hill among other paths, but they seemed to be no closer. Or at least it _felt_ like they were going nowhere.

"Korra? Not to be a pain or anything, but are you sure you know where you're going?" Mako tiredly asked.

"Yes, Mako. I can still feel it," she answered, "but then again…"

"What? What?" Bolin was afraid of what she might say.

"Well, the forest _is_ thick and long; and the Gate _was_ created to be undetectable," Korra continued.

"That's just peachy," Tenzin remarked.

As the day went on, the sun grew higher and hotter, but thankfully, the treetops were shading them from most of it. Eventually, they arrived at a big dike with a few bushes lined here and there, but no trees. There, they could feel the full heat of the sun above them blasting down onto the forest. They were tired and sweating, of course. As it is since they entered the forest area with the airship, the forest is bordered on each side, though quite far apart, with a long mountain range and it didn't seem to end. Looking up, they could barely see anything through the glare of the sunlight.

"Asami? Please tell me you're still in contact with the airship," Korra spoke.

The engineer then tried her radio to do so and received a clear reply. The pilot responded that everything was fine; they were still at where they stopped.

"That's affirmative, Captain. Just stay high. I'll signal when we need you guys. Over and out."

She then signaled to Korra that everything was fine.

"Okay. We should keep moving, then."

"Just give us a few minutes, Korra. Everyone's tired," Mako said as he went back into the shade and sat down on a rather flat rock to rest followed by Bolin. He took out his bottle and drank the heat away, as did everyone.

"Alright, but we shouldn't take too long," Korra told him.

Meanwhile, Taka was standing out over the dike, trying to get a bearing on their surroundings. But it was a fruitless effort as all he could see was trees and more trees, rocks, and the mountains surrounding them among other things.

"You should rest, Taka. I created the Gate to be invisible and undetectable to anything," Korra spoke to him, "so you might as well rest up and let me do the hard work."

"Are we even getting close?" the energybender inquired, tired as well.

The search for this "Gate" felt as Korra said: nearly impossible, like trying to find an invisible needle in a very large haystack.

"We are. I can feel it," the former Avatar said, hopeful.

Then, as they finished their rest and preparing to continue, they all heard what sounded like a small explosion and they could see and energy wave pass by above them; birds were flying from the treetops in a bit of a frenzy.

"Oh no," Korra feared the worst.

The team hastily jumped and ran in that direction. It wasn't a long trek until they arrived at the Gate itself, but the energy shield had already been withdrawn. The former Avatar realized that Zaheer, P'Li, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua were already there.

"We're too late…" Korra remarked in horror.

"Perhaps not. We should head inside. There may still be a chance," Nadia asserted.

"Inside?" the others were confused as there seemed to be no "inside" anywhere; it looked like a destroyed castle.

"That's the point," Korra spoke as she ran inside.

It was as she feared. The mural at the center of the structure had been opened and the criminals have already descended down to the Gate.

"We need to jump down," Satoshi said, to which he did followed by Nadia.

Korra and Taka also wasted no time and immediately jumped down the hole after them.

"Oh, no. I'm not going down there," Bolin looked scared.

"Bolin, we don't have time for this," Tenzin said.

"Then go. Bolin and I will stay here just in case they slip you guys and come back up," Mako told the airbender.

"I'm staying here with them too," Masaru added.

"Don't worry, Tenzin. I'll stay here too and watch over them," Asami assured him.

He nodded and jumped down the hole along with Kimo, who flew down with his Copter Pack. As they went further down—the hole was rather deep and a long narrow journey down—they begin to notice a faint blue tint seeping into the air and the walls, permeating everything. Eventually, they exited the deep hole and came out to an open forest-like area akin to the ones in the Spirit World; the trees and plant-life were as one would expect to find in that world. Streaks of light and energy were emanating from the center of the area. By the time Tenzin and Kimo arrived on the ground, Korra and the others had already made for the center of the forest where the Gate lied and the two hastily tried to catch up.

Ghazan noticed their presence and announced, "They're here, boss."

"It doesn't matter. They're too late anyway," Zaheer spoke with a smirk.

As they arrived, everyone except Korra and the guardians stared in awe as they saw the huge Gate on the ground: it was a circle in the center of the forest and engraved on it were each of the four elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air in in clockwise order from top to bottom; and at the top of each section was an insert where one could put the corresponding key in to unlock the Gate, which Zaheer already succeded in doing. The Gate creaked and moaned as the magic dispelled, and already Ner'gal's dark presence could be felt. Waves and streames of dark energy were emanating outwards. The Gate itself began to crack and break. The criminal leader stood at the edge of the circle, his arms wide open, along with his crew.

"You should've destroyed the spirit when you had the chance, Avatar!" he shouted to her, "now, you will face the consequence of that ignorance. On this day, everything you have worked for is undone…and the world as you know it will die."

At that moment, the entire forest shook and trembled. As the Gate's magic was fully dispelled, its radiant glow dimmed and the waves of energy stopped. The Gate finally shattered and a dark presence rose up, revealing a huge, black, and terrifying spirit.

"Noooooo!" Korra screamed as she witnessed Ner'gal rise from his prison.

"I. Am. Freeeee!" Ner'gal yelled out with what can only be perceived as joy as the team witnessed in horror.


End file.
